Victor Wembanyama is the consensus No. 1 pick but he isn’t the only future star waiting to be plucked out of the NBA Draft lottery.
This year’s NBA Draft Lottery is essentially a sweepstakes to see who gets Victor Wembanyama. The 7-foot-3 French big man has been the consensus No. 1 since last year’s draft and is generally viewed as a generational prospect. His combination of size, agility, rim protection, handle and outside shooting makes him utterly unique and give him both a solid floor and an impossibly high ceiling.
But this draft class is plenty deep and Wembaynama isn’t the only potential star waiting at the top of the lottery. For teams that need to take a home-run swing, the prospects below might represent the best bets for landing a star capable of single-handedly altering the trajectory of a franchise.
Future stars in the NBA Draft, not named Victor Wembanyama:
3. Cam Whitmore, F, Villanova
There’s a decent chance that Whitmore falls outside the top-5 but his ceiling is incredibly high and he could be an enormous value for a team drafting in the No. 10 to No. 6 range. He is a powerfully built, 6-foot-7 wing who plays with quickness, strength, speed and explosive leaping ability. At his floor, Whitmore is a high-level role player — an aggressive and suffocating defender who can handle matchups with all five positions, help on the glass and act as a versatile connector at the other end of the floor. However, if Whitmore continues to develop his self-creation ability, his ceiling could be off the charts.
It’s hypothetical at this point but Whitmore has the upside to eventually fill a Jayson Tatum-like role, building up his scoring profile with savvy, strength and touch inside the arc and eventually developing into a high-level outside shooter and creator for others. A team with the right developmental staff and infrastructure around him could draft an ideal complementary talent and wind up with a foundational star two or three years down the road.
2. Scoot Henderson, G, G League Ignite
Henderson was the headliner of the G League Ignite in their October matchups with Victor Wembanyama and the Metropolitans 92 on ESPN, introducing him to a national audience. At that point, he was the consensus No. 2 on most draft boards, right behind Wembanyama. Although the buzz around the Thompson Twins and Brandon Miller may end up pushing down a slot or two, it would be a dramatic surprise if he falls outside the top 5.
A 6-foot-2 point guard with a powerful frame and explosive athleticism, Henderson has drawn comparisons to players like Russell Westbrook and a young Derrick Rose. Those are flattering comparisons but they also overlook the fact that Henderson may be more advanced as a passer, shooter and defender than either of those players were at the same age.
Henderson averaged 21.1 points, 7.6 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game for the Ignite this season, shooting with a 27.8 usage rate and a 54.6 true shooting percentage. He’ll need to continue improving as a shooter and deliver on his defensive upside with consistent intensity and attention to detail. But he has every tool you’d want to see in a lead creator and initiator and his athletic tools could make him an electric star at the next level.
1. The Thompson Twins
There are plenty of meaningful differences between twins Ausar and Amen Thompson but their appeal builds on the same profile — 6-foot-7 frames with absolutely elite, outlier athleticism and a ton of tape leveraging that athleticism in practical ways at both ends of the floor. Their highlight reels are just loaded with absurd dunks, eye-popping blocks, brilliant no-look passes and mind-blowing, acrobatic layups.
Amen is more advanced as a passer and creator and projects into a lead ball-handler role, which is fairly absurd given his size and explosiveness. Ausar is slightly more advanced as a defender and perhaps more prepared for an off-ball, complementary creator role. But both players have the potential to turn their skills and physical tools into two-way stardom, even if it’s not entirely clear what it might look like in terms of role and fit.
Their similar appeal also comes with largely the same question marks. Neither player is a reliable shooter at this point, off the dribble or off the catch, and as the first two serious draft prospects from the Overtime Elite league we don’t really have a frame of reference for the level of competition they’re playing against and how that should change the way we evaluate their numbers and tape.
It may take the twins a bit longer to translate their production since no other prospects will face as large a jump in the level of competition as they will. But they both have everything they need to become NBA All-Stars many times over.
Check out The Step Back for more news, analysis, opinion and unique basketball coverage. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to our daily email newsletter, The Whiteboard.