Winners and losers from the 2023 NBA Draft

Today on The Whiteboard, we’re looking at winners and losers from the NBA Draft, ranking undrafted talent, breaking down trades and more.

The NBA Draft went chalk for the first few picks before veering off into wildly unexpected territory. We didn’t see any of the big, rumored trades with players like Damian Lillard but there was a big trade earlier in the day and plenty of surprises. Here are the biggest winners and losers and more.

NBA Draft Winners: Houston Rockets

The Houston Rockets opted not to make a trade, held onto the No. 4 pick and added Amen Thompson. Then, they lucked into lottery talent Cam Whitmore — a player who had apparently been a consideration for them at No. 4 early in the pre-draft process but who slid all the way to No. 20 because of medical concerns.

At this point, it’s not clear exactly what the medical issue is that scared off more than a dozen teams. But the Rockets didn’t need to make a trade and still came away with a pair of top-10 players in terms of talent.

Thompson is an elite athlete, with strong defensive tools and instinct, an elite finisher and the kind of passer and creator who could, at 6-foot-7, eventually play point guard full-time. Whitmore is another explosive athlete, but a far more powerful one, with the strength and power to blast through mismatches and defend a variety of positions.

New head coach Ime Udoka still has a lot to figure out in terms of how this team will play, what everyone’s roles will be and how he’ll undo some of the bad habits they developed last season. But they are immediately the most athletic (and probably dunkiest) team in the league and, between Thompson, Whitmore, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr., Tari Eason, Kevin Porter Jr., Kenyon Martin Jr., Alperen Sengun and Usman Garuba, absolutely loaded with flexible, versatile two-way talent.

Again, there is a lot of work to do. But there are also A LOT of pieces in place.

NBA Draft Losers: Cam Whitmore

While the Rockets lucked into an incredible value with Whitmore, it was not a great night for him. In addition to the embarrassment of watching your draft stock drop, in real-time, on national television, Whitmore has landed in a situation that may be less-than-ideal for his individual development.

The Rockets were a developmental mess last season — rookie Jabari Smith Jr. struggled mightily and most of their other young players regressed, leaning into bad habits, passive defensive and atrocious shot selection. That may change with Udoka at the helm but this is not a team with a strong core of veteran leadership in place to help guide a young player like Whitmore. In addition, he’ll be competing for minutes and opportunities with three or four other players the Rockets may be just as interested in developing.

Landing with the Pistons, Pacers, Jazz, Heat or Magic might have given him a much more meaningful role to play early in his career and much more support to be successful in that role.

NBA Draft Winners: Indiana Pacers

Two weeks ago, the Pacers had five picks in this 2023 NBA Draft — three-first rounders (No. 7, No. 26 and No. 29) and a pair of seconds (No. 32 and No. 55). But through a trio of trades, one with the Nuggets, one with the Lakers and another with the Wizards on draft night, they pared that down to three.

In the end, they came away with Jarace Walker at No. 8, Ben Sheppard at No. 26 and Mojave King at No. 47, while picking up a protected 2024 first-round pick, $2 million in cash and a pair of future second-rounders from the Wizards.

Walker appeared to be the player they really wanted in the lottery and they were able to extract those two future second-rounders from Washington for swapping the No. 7 pick for No. 8, allowing Washington to move up and grab Bilal Coulibaly, a player the Pacers weren’t interested in any way.

Walker seems like a perfect frontcourt fit, a potential two-way star who meshes well with Myles Turner and Tyrese Haliburton and could be a long-term power forward who continues to grow with this core. Sheppard is an experienced plug-and-play wing who adds depth with his shooting and savvy creation ability. King is a wild card but the right kind of swing at that range. So the Pacers ended up with three excellent picks, and added three future picks, one in the first round. Not a bad few weeks.

NBA Draft Losers: Washington Wizards

The Wizards are losers here but it’s at least somewhat by design. Coulibaly, who they traded up to get at No. 7, is an extremely interesting prospect but he’s also very young and very raw, which probably isn’t going to help the Wizards much next season. However, they add a ton of extra second-rounders from the Bradley Beal trade and there’s no shame in using them to get the player they wanted.

They also turned Chris Paul into Jordan Poole, getting a useful (if expensive) player for a veteran they were likely going to have to buy out anyway. In the second round, the Wizards landed Tristan Vukcevic and Isaiah Wong, two players who probably won’t make an impact next season but were worth the gamble.

In the end, the Wizards extracted some decent value from what they had to work with but nothing that guarantees to move the needle for the future and they’re now the clear frontrunners for the worst record in the league next season.

NBA Draft Winners: Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Lakers

I’m not sure about Jalen Hood-Schifino at No. 17 to the Lakers but I’m calling both these teams winners for their exceptional wins in the second round. The Timberwolves made a trade with the Spurs to jump up to No. 33 and get Leonard Miller, a long, big forward with two-way potential was rated as a fringe lottery prospect on several boards. He might not be ready to make an impact next season but he has a lot of potential and sneaking into the second round was a great move.

The Lakers lucked into Maxwell Lewis from Pepperdine at No. 40, another prospect who was rated as a solid first-rounder on many boards. With his shooting, secondary creation ability, solid defensive fundamentals and size on the wing he’s exactly the kind of player the Lakers need, someone who could even make an impact next season. It’s likely he was a consideration for the Lakers at No. 17 and landing him at No. 40 is fantastic value.

NBA Draft Losers: Dallas Mavericks

Oof. I might be in the minority here but I think the Mavericks had a disastrous night. They moved back two spots to dump Davis Bertans salary which is, presumably, a preamble to throwing a massive deal at Kyrie Irving. They traded into the end of the first round with the Kings to get Richaun Holmes and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (by all accounts a good value at this slot and a big wing with decent upside). And at No. 12, they took Dereck Lively II from Duke, a long bouncy rim protector and vertical spacer.

In a vacuum, none of those moves are particularly egregious but I see nothing but tragedy when we put them together. This means re-signing Kyrie Irving, which may have been a foregone conclusion anyway but seems destined to be a catastrophic failure. They added a decent backup big and young wing prospect but Propser isn’t likely to help next season and Holmes fell out of the Kings’ rotation for a reason.

And then there is Lively II. Marc Stein mentioned him having “true Tyson Chandler potential” a characterization that seems designed to trigger Mavs fans. It’s also incredibly misleading in that it’s implicitly comparing a rookie to a veteran at his peak. Chandler didn’t average double-figure rebounds until his fifth season in the league. Didn’t average double-figure scoring until his sixth. He didn’t get a vote for the All-Defensive Team until his fourth season. He won a championship with the Mavericks in his 10th season and Defensive Player of the Year in his 11th. By the time Lively is, theoretically, performing at that level Irving would likely be retired and may have already helped run Luka Doncic out of Dallas.

The Mavericks are on a much shorter timeline than they seem willing to admit and I’m not sure anything they did in the draft really addresses that.

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How will Chris Paul work with the Warriors?

Just a few hours before the draft started, the Wizards agreed to send Chris Paul to the Warriors in exchange for Jordan Poole, Ryan Rollins, a 2027 second-round pick and a 2030 protected first-round pick. Here’s what you need to know:

• Mike Dunleavy’s misdirection: The trade came just days after Dunleavy said of Poole: “With his contract extension, we’re planning on having him here for four more years at least.”
• Poole is done with Draymond Green: Just minutes after the trade was announced, Poole unfollowed Green on social media.
• This trade saves the Warriors a ton of money: Per SFGate: “The Poole contract may have been one of the very worst in the NBA, and by getting the team out from under it, Dunleavy may have enabled the Warriors to avoid future steep penalties that come with the “second apron” cap line in the new collective bargaining agreement, which is two steps beyond the already punishing luxury tax threshold. (Poole’s enormous four-year extension kicks in this season, while Paul’s contract is not guaranteed past this year.)”
• Where does Chris Paul fit? It remains to be seen where Chris Paul will fit in the Warriors’ rotation but it seems likely he may be coming off the bench but spending a lot of minutes in three-guard set-ups with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
• Steph Curry and Chris Paul HAVE played together: Although they’ve never played a regular-season game together, Paul and Curry have been All-Star teammates five times — 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2022. They are 4-1 in those games.

NBA news and content from around the FanSided network

• If you’re looking for more detailed draft analysis, Chris Kline was grading every pick in the draft last night, in real-time.
• The countdown to the 2024 NBA Draft starts today and Kline is already diving in, ranking the top prospects.
• The Miami Heat stayed 100 percent on-brand by picking Jaime Jaquez Jr. at No. 19.
• The Pelicans did NOT trade up for the No. 3 pick, but they did land one of the best shooters in this draft class.
• Who knows how effective he’ll be as a rookie, but Gradey Dick was absolutely the breakout star of draft night.
• Jalen Hood-Schifino should look familiar to Lakers fans, but that’s not a reason to panic.