If it feels like the NBA just had a draft, well, it sort of did.
Last year’s event didn’t happen until late November, about a month before the regular season began. While this year’s draft isn’t completely back to “normal,” we’re at least in the right season once again.
Nonetheless, little of that will matter Thursday night when the teams near the top hope to boost their immediate prospects with … prospects. The Detroit Pistons tip things off with the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, which begins at 8 p.m. ET from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Round 1 can be seen on both ABC and ESPN, while Round 2 will air on ESPN.
Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham is widely expected to be the top pick, and G League Ignite’s Jalen Green, USC’s Evan Mobley, Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs and Florida State’s Scottie Barnes are a few of the other top prospects expected to go pretty early.
Follow along here through draft night as The Athletic NBA staff shares its insight, analysis and predictions ahead of Thursday’s event.
But first, a few mocks to get you ready:
» Sam Vecenie’s live updating mock
» John Hollinger’s mock
» Zach Harper’s mock
» Beat writer mock
» Consensus Big Board
And here is Thursday’s draft order via NBA.com:
Round 1
- Detroit
- Houston
- Cleveland
- Toronto
- Orlando
- Oklahoma City
- Golden State (from Minnesota)
- Orlando (from Chicago)
- Sacramento
- New Orleans
- Charlotte
- San Antonio
- Indiana
- Golden State
- Washington
- Oklahoma City (from Boston)
- Memphis
- Oklahoma City (from Miami via the LA Clippers, Philadelphia, and Phoenix)
- New York
- Atlanta
- New York (from Dallas)
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Houston (from Portland)
- Houston (from Milwaukee)
- LA Clippers
- Denver
- Brooklyn
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- Utah
Round 2
31. Milwaukee (from Houston)
32. New York (from Detroit via the LA Clippers and Philadelphia)
33. Orlando
34. Oklahoma City
35. New Orleans (from Cleveland via Atlanta)
36. Oklahoma City (from Minnesota via Golden State)
37. Detroit (from Toronto via Brooklyn)
38. Chicago (from New Orleans)
39. Sacramento
40. New Orleans (from Chicago)
41. San Antonio
42. Detroit (from Charlotte via New York)
43. New Orleans (from Washington via Milwaukee, Cleveland and Utah)
44. Brooklyn (from Indiana)
45. Boston
46. Toronto (from Memphis via Sacramento)
47. Toronto (from Golden State via Utah and New Orleans)
48. Atlanta (from Miami via Sacramento and Portland)
49. Brooklyn (from Atlanta)
50. Philadelphia (from New York)
51. Memphis (from Portland via Dallas, Detroit and Cleveland)
52. Detroit (from Los Angeles Lakers via Sacramento, Houston and Detroit)
53. Philadelphia (from New Orleans via Dallas)
54. Indiana (from Milwaukee via Houston and Cleveland)
55. Oklahoma City (from Denver via Golden State and Philadelphia)
56. Charlotte (from LA Clippers)
57. Charlotte (from Brooklyn)
58. New York (from Philadelphia)
59. Brooklyn (from Phoenix)
60. Indiana (from Utah)