NBA Draft Big Board: Post-early entry shake-up

Chris Stone and I are back with another update to our list of the top 60 prospects available in June’s NBA Draft. We’re three weeks away from the NBA Draft lottery, when we will start to see the top end of the draft start to take shape. Plenty will happen in that time, though, as a record 182 players have declared for the draft as part of the NBA’s new early entry rules. The Draft Combine, which runs May 9th-14th, is likely to weed many of these players out, and we should have a better picture of the draft board by the time the top three picks are decided.

The major event of the last few weeks was the early entry deadline, with a wide variety of players testing draft waters. The extension of the deadline to withdraw allows more players than ever before to get feedback prior to making their decision, which is beneficial to underclassmen on the fringe, like Texas’s Andrew Jones, or injured players looking to feel out how their injury affects their stock, like Xavier’s Edmond Sumner and Indiana’s O.G. Anunoby.

The early entry deadline also shrunk the field some, as several players decided to skip the draft process right away to return to school. Many of these players were projected 2nd-round picks, like USC’s De’Anthony Melton. However, the class of returnees was headlined by Texas A&M’s Robert Williams, Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, and Villanova’s Mikal Bridges, three of our projected lottery picks who are all going back to the NCAA.

This creates a bit of a talent chasm between the top 10 players and the players beneath them, and significantly shrinks the already thin wing class outside of the top players. Teams looking for the NBA’s top commodity – productive rotation wings – will be in a bit of a bind in this draft. Can some of the wings lower on our board (Like Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell) close the gap with strong workouts? That is the major question. Until that’s answered, here’s how we see the top 60 players available right now.