This is the time of year to be spectacularly wrong. Many of us will be with family for the Holidays and, despite our best intentions, we will make asses out of ourselves by reigniting old dramas, having a few too many eggnog’s, or expecting our elderly parents to finally be interested in talking about Bitcoin.
It’s also the time of year where a NBA draft big board starts to make sense, as the draft class comes into clearer focus. And yet it’s early enough in the process that many of the rankings will be way off. So far it’s international prospects that are dominating the top of the rankings, with Sarr, Topic and Risacher all in the top 5.
The biggest difference between this big board and my 2024 mock draft is that the big board ranks all draft eligible prospects, whereas the mock draft attempts to predict which players will be in this upcoming draft. Players like Johnny Furphy and Kyshawn George (among others) seem likely to return to school next year and so are not listed on my 2024 mock, however I see them as being among the top 60 draft eligible prospects.
Another difference is that the mock draft will adhere a little closer to consensus, whereas my big board is just pure prospect ranking. And this is where the risk and the opportunity lie; the chance to be early on prospects – at the risk of being spectacularly wrong.
One of the biggest outliers on this big board is Yves Missi in the top 10. I actually considered having him even higher but will have to see a little more from him before moving him ahead of more ball-dominant players like Collier. I’m also a lot higher on some of the older prospects like PJ Hall and Dalton Knecht while being lower than most on Duke prospects Kyle Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor.
A lot will change over the next 6 months leading up to the draft but for now this is how I see the top 60 draft eligible prospects:
2024 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0
- Alexandre Sarr (PF/C) – Perth (France)
- Ron Holland – SF – Ignite
- Ja’Kobe Walter – SG – Baylor
- Zaccharie Risacher – SF – France
- Nikola Topic – PG – Serbia
- Matas Buzelis – SF – Ignite
- Stephon Castle PG/SG – UConn
- Cody Williams – SF – Colorado
- Isaiah Collier PG – USC
- Yves Missi – C – Baylor
- Ryan Dunn – SF – Virginia
- Dalton Knecht – SG – Tennessee
- PJ Hall – PF – Clemson
- Adem Bona – C – UCLA
- Tidjane Salaun – PF – France
- Justin Edwards – SF – Kentucky
- Donovan Clingan – C – UConn
- Aaron Bradshaw – C – Kentucky
- Trey Alexander – SG – Creighton
- Reed Sheppard – SG – Kentucky
- Tyrese Proctor – PG – Duke
- Rob Dillingham – PG – Kentucky
- Bobi Klintman – PF – NBL (Sweden)
- Kevin McCullar Jr. – SG – Kansas
- Tyler Smith – PF – Ignite
- Johnny Furphy – SG – Kansas
- Garway Dual – PG – Providence
- Carlton Carrington – PG – Pittsburgh
- Melvin Ajinca – SF – France
- Kyle Filipowski – C – Duke
- Trevon Brazile – PF – Arkansas
- Pacome Dadiet – SF – France
- Izan Almansa – PF – Ignite
- Riley Kugel – SG – Florida
- Kel’el Ware – C – Indiana
- Wooga Poplar – SG – Miami
- Tristan Da Silva – PF – Colorado
- Thierry Darlan – SG – Ignite
- Trentyn Flowers – SF – Adelaide, NBL
- Alex Toohey – SF – Australia
- Tyler Kolek – PG – Marquette
- Bruce Thornton – PG – Ohio State
- Oso Ighodaro – PF – Marquette
- Dillon Jones – SG/SF – Weber State
- A.J. Johnson – PG – Illawara, NBL
- D.J. Wagner – SG – Kentucky
- Kyshawn George – PG/SF – Miami
- Matthew Cleveland – SF – Miami
- Taran Armstrong – PG – Cains, NBL
- Ajay Mitchell – SG – UC Santa Barbara (Belgium)
- Bronny James – SG – USC
- Baba Miller – SF – Florida State (Spain)
- Hunter Dickenson – C – Kansas
- Aday Mara – C – UCLA (Spain)
- Kobe Johnson – SG/SF – USC
- Jared McCain – PG/SG – Duke
- Terrence Shannon Jr. – SF – Illinois
- Zach Edey – C – Purdue
- Zacharie Perrin – PF – France
- Jalen Bridges – SF – Baylor