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Our latest NBA Mock Draft is built around the latest NBA Draft rumors, with a handful of trades dramatically shaking up the first-round order.
The NBA Draft is less than two weeks away and rumors are already swirling about teams looking to trade up or trade down, prioritizing short- and long-term value. The Rockets have reportedly been listening to offers for the No. 3 pick. The Kings are supposedly open to moving down for a win-now veteran. Everyone assumes the Trail Blazers will shop the No. 7 pick to add more immediate help for Damian Lillard. And those are just the things everyone is talking about.
In the interest of shaking up the usual structure here, I have prepared a mock draft that includes four trades with six different first-round picks changing hands. Below you’ll find the details on each of those trades and the rationale, followed by a full first-round mock with this new hypothetical draft order.
The analysis of each individual player here relies heavily on the insights of draft experts like Brian Schroeder, Jeremy Woo and Kevin O’Connor. Each pick is not necessarily a guess at who each team will or even should take, just a hopefully insightful match between prospect skill and upside and each team’s need.
And if you’re looking at any of these picks wondering what the heck I was thinking, just remember that mock drafts are made to be mocked.