To say a lot of NBA scouts and executives aren’t too high on this 2024 draft class would be an understatement. NBA insider Brian Windhorst stated that one scout told him that getting a top-three pick in the 2024 NBA Draft would be like a loss.
“I was talking to a scout today and he’s like, ‘If you get a top three pick in this lottery, it may be kind of like a loss because then you got to pay some of these guys that kind of a salary,'” Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective podcast.
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That is rather damning but I think there is a bit of an exaggeration there. Victor Wembanyama signed a four-year, $55.1 million deal after being selected with the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs. You would expect that number to go up for whoever gets picked first this year, but it would be by no means a contract that’s going to cripple a team.
What that statement does show, though, is that this scout just doesn’t think any of the top prospects have what it takes to become stars in the future. As of now, the likes of Rob Dillingham, Alex Sarr, Nikola Topic, and Zaccharie Risacher are among the group that is expected to go fairly high and none of them are seen as can’t-miss prospects.
It explains why there is next to no hype for the Draft Lottery, which is set to take place on May 12. Around this time last year, it was an event that everyone was eagerly looking forward to, as the prize for the winner was Wembanyama.
This time, there is no consensus No. 1 pick and I don’t think any of these prospects are really held in the same regard as someone like Scoot Henderson was either. We have seen classes that were viewed as terrible in the past turn out to be good, though, so I wouldn’t completely write this one off just yet.
NBA GM Said Winning The Lottery Might Lead To Someone Getting Fired
I mentioned earlier about executives around the league not holding this class in high regard and a classic example of that came out in April. An NBA GM said people will lose their jobs over this 2024 draft class.
“This is an absolutely awful draft,” an NBA GM told Jeff Goodman. “There’s no guy that projects as a franchise player, no one that even stands out as the No. 1 pick. This is the type of draft that gets someone fired if they get the No. 1 pick.”
If the No. 1 pick does turn out to be a bust, then the GM and the head coach might well end up on their way out in a year or two. So, who has the best chance of landing that pick?
Well, both the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards have the best chance at 14% each. They’re followed by the Charlotte Hornets at 13.3% and the Portland Trail Blazers at 13.2%.
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