The NBA Draft takes place next Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The next crop of NBA talent will find out where they will be plying their trade next season. There are plenty of intriguing prospects at the top of this year’s draft, but past the top two their destinations are all but clear. LSU’s Ben Simmons and Duke’s Brandon Ingram are all but locks to occupy the first two draft spots. After that there is as many as nine men who could realistically slot into the next three places. So after Simmons and Ingram, who’s next in the NBA Draft?
BOSTON CELTICS
While the Sixers and the Lakers could still gum up the works, the Celtics are the ones most likely to bring chaos into the NBA Draft proceedings at number three. There is still plenty of chatter of Boston trading the pick in an effort to get a superstar to help in their free agency recruiting efforts. Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia’s Jahlil Okafor, and now even Cleveland’s Kevin Love are potential future Celtics with that third pick going the other way. While a trade of the pick better fits GM Danny Ainge’s M.O., keeping the pick could provide just as fruitful results. However, it seems that doing that doesn’t make the C’s strategy any clearer.
Buddy Hield is the mock draft favorite at the moment. The Oklahoma senior would give the Celtics a complimentary scorer they need that could contribute right away. He would slot in as the team’s starting shooting guard, relegating Avery Bradley to sixth man status. That is of course if Bradley is still on the roster come draft night.
The better pick in terms of upside though would be Kentucky’s Jamal Murray. He doesn’t have the polish of Hield quite yet, but is a tremendous shooter who could play and guard both backcourt positions more than admirably. He shot the ball very well in big games, hitting 7+ threes against both Florida and Ohio State during his one season in Lexington.
The wild card is Providence’s Kris Dunn. He is far and away the top point guard prospect available. With Isaiah Thomas in the fold though, Dunn doesn’t make much sense. If Thomas is somehow included in any of the aforementioned deals though, or even a smaller one involving just Thomas, Dunn is more than likely the pick at three.
PHOENIX SUNS
The Suns are in bad shape entering the 2016 NBA Draft. All the work they’ve done over the past three years went completely up in smoke this season. Injuries and front office ineptitude have made trying to determine what Phoenix will do with their two lottery picks a brain rattling ordeal.
Dragan Bender is the overwhelming favorite at the moment to go number four, but the 7 foot Croatian doesn’t help right away. He also creates a potentially bogged down frontcourt with Alex Len, something that doesn’t suit the Suns playing style or the direction of the league as a whole.
If the Suns want someone who will pay more immediate dividends, they go with Jamal Murray. They struck gold last year in the lottery with a Kentucky shooter in Devin Booker. Adding Murray would give the Suns their own Splash Brothers-esque tandem while two other Wildcats, Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight, attempt full recoveries from their latest injuries.
Don’t count out them moving the pick either. They have the 13th pick as well and the Suns could use the pair to move for their own star, or to jump into the top two with a deal involving Bledsoe and/or Knight.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
With new coach Tom Thibodeau and a core of young stars ready to take it to the next level, the Timberwolves don’t have to get a direct hit at the fifth pick. They don’t need to make a panic trade up and can listen to offers to potentially trade out of the top five if the price is right. If they keep the pick though, they should have a nice set of players to choose from.
Even if Ricky Rubio isn’t dealt, the top player on Minnesota’s radar should be Kris Dunn. Unless one of the two teams ahead of them make a trade to move up for the former Friar, he should be there on a plate at number five in the NBA Draft. Dunn would fit in perfectly to Minnesota’s roster, and give them a scoring option at point guard, from both the perimeter and driving to the rim, that Rubio never gave them. He would be ready to go from day one, something that may not be the case for other potential options at the pick.
Jamal Murray is another tantalizing option at pick 5. He’d probably start off like Booker in Phoenix as a shooter off the bench with Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine as starters. Murray would provide a nice change of pace to the shooting deficient starting duo, as well as create more spacing for Andrew Wiggins on offense and defense.
The two outside options are Hield and California’s Jaylen Brown. Hield is viewed as an outside option here not because of a lack of fit or disregard, but rather that he’ll likely be gone by pick five unless there is a cavalcade of movement in the four picks prior. Brown on the other hand will definitely be in the mix. He is, as CBS’ Gary Parrish so succintly put, a player that everybody is intrigued by but few love. He has all the makings of a stud wing player, but could come with unnecessary headaches and questionable desire. If Thibodeau could quell those fears surrounding Brown, he would be a player that could thrive in that type of grind your opponent down system, especially against an influx of smaller lineups in the NBA.