With Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith and the rest of the 2022 class off to the NBA, it's time to shift our full attention to next year's group.
The 2023 NBA draft is 12 months away, but we've had our eyes on this group of players for quite some time, posting updates in January and May. We've watched the class' best prospects grow up in high school, AAU, USA Basketball and FIBA events, as well as other all-star settings in the past two years, and will continue that process this summer and fall.
NBA teams still have a lot to learn about this group. We're still feeling the effects of a pandemic that severely disjointed the high school careers of many of these prospects. That likely caused quite a few players to slip between the cracks and end up at lower levels than they should have. Missed evaluation opportunities have forced teams to dig even deeper into the college ranks to the mid- and low-major schools (as well as non-Division I programs, potentially), where more NBA prospects are still certain to emerge. G League Ignite and Overtime Elite are other evaluation platforms that are becoming increasingly important in the NBA scouting world, as evidenced by the fact that only one of the top five projected 2023 picks will be attending college -- something that's never occurred in the history of the NBA draft. First, let's look at the updated 2023 mock, followed by some top storylines for next year's class
The 2023 draft order is based on ESPN projections prior to draft night, and reflects the current state of picks owed and owned: