2026 NBA Mock Draft: Post-NBA Draft Lottery | Predictions for EVERY lottery team (Picks 1-14)

0:00 The NBA draft lottery is set.

0:03 One of the most anticipated classes of freshman players ever.

0:07 There are six of them on your screen right now.

0:10 The Wizards will have their choice of them all.

0:14 That 14% chance of the ping pong balls bouncing their way turned up Washington.

0:19 And now we can officially speculate who goes where in the top 14.

0:24 No one better for this exercise than Adam Finkelstein,

0:27 our director of basketball scouting.

0:29 He'll be in Chicago for the combine this week.

0:31 All right, Adam.

0:32 Adam, this didn't take you any time at all to throw

0:34 your top 14 together once we found out the order.

0:37 And a week ago, you played this out

0:39 with a mock draft based on straight probability.

0:42 AJ Debonto was the number one pick then to the Wizards.

0:45 Is he still?

0:47 He is.

0:48 But what I said then I will repeat now,

0:50 and that is that this is not 2023 when the Spurs drafted WBY.

0:53 It's not even 2025 when the Mavs drafted Cooper Flag.

0:57 This is more of a choice.

0:59 Now, maybe not as much of a choice as Atlanta

1:01 had in 2024 cuz that was so wide open.

1:04 What I mean by that is AJ Debonte is the favorite.

1:06 I think it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

1:10 But the narrative that all 30 teams would immediately

1:12 take him at number one without doing their due diligence,

1:15 I think that was an exaggeration.

1:17 What comes next for Washington at this point is a deep dive on, I believe,

1:22 four different prospects.

1:23 Dansa is certainly the top of that list, but they will also, I think,

1:27 do that on Darren Peterson, maybe even on Cameron Boozer,

1:30 and I think also on Caleb Wilson.

1:32 When you have the number one pick in the draft and everybody is waiting for you,

1:36 there's no reason not to.

1:38 So, they are going to do have everybody into the facility, work everybody out,

1:42 do the medical, do the background checks,

1:44 do the psychological profiling, do it all.

1:46 And they may also canvas the market.

1:48 If it turns out they like someone else other than AJ Debansa,

1:52 maybe they'll see what Utah would do with their pick.

1:54 Maybe they'll see what other people have in store

1:56 for a potential package to be the number one pick.

1:59 But at the end of the day, I do expect that Donsa will be the choice.

2:03 He had a phenomenal freshman season at BYU.

2:06 He's 6'9.

2:07 He's athletic.

2:07 He's got an elastic body type.

2:09 He's a big-time scorer.

2:10 And this is a huge day for the Washington Wizards.

2:13 That would be a very NFL draftlike approach

2:16 to maybe move out of that pick because they

2:19 see somebody else of value to build around

2:22 that Wizards roster that added Trey Young and Anthony Davis.

2:26 We'll see if we'll see if AD sticks in the nation's capital.

2:29 All right, two falls to the Utah Jazz.

2:32 Who do you have the Jazz taken, Adam?

2:34 Well, this one's going to be complicated.

2:35 I think if Debonsa goes one,

2:37 there's three different prospects that will get a good long look here,

2:42 and that is Peterson, Boozer, and Wilson.

2:45 Now, I do think that Peterson will be the pick here.

2:48 Remember, they shred up their front line by trading for Jiren Jackson.

2:51 They've got Lorie Markin in back,

2:52 and Keiante George is coming off a breakout season.

2:55 More importantly than all that, I think

2:57 Peterson is the prospect with the highest upside.

2:59 Now, if you only saw him play this year at Kansas,

3:02 you're probably distracted by some of the availability issues.

3:05 But what I can tell you about this year

3:06 is that his shooting profile went through the roof.

3:09 We didn't think he was that type of shotmaker in high school.

3:11 What we did think was that he was a big-time athlete who

3:14 could attack the rim and had a terrific overlap of positional size,

3:17 length, and physicality.

3:19 Now you combine that guy we saw in high school with the shotmaker

3:22 we saw this year at Kansas and you say hey if

3:25 he's healthy and he proves to be durable could he be

3:28 the best player in this draft and the answer to that question is

3:31 yes and that's why I think that Utah will ultimately go

3:34 with Darren Peterson not just because he fits next to Keonte George

3:38 and their new front line but because he has a chance 10 years

3:40 from now to be the best player to come out of this draft.

3:43 Yeah, the Jazz, despite all of the fines for tanking,

3:46 are signaling, hey, we the rebuild thing here in Utah is over.

3:51 We're going for it to a degree.

3:53 Maybe just keep somebody with a check of the creatine

3:56 for Peterson once he gets to the NBA, Adam.

3:59 Right.

3:59 All right, let's go to three here.

4:01 That is the Memphis Grizzlies.

4:02 And I know you've rattled off a bunch of names

4:04 here in terms of how they could fall one through four.

4:08 Who goes three to Memphis?

4:10 I think this one's complicated.

4:11 I wrote earlier this week that I thought

4:13 Caleb Wilson uh would have interest from Memphis.

4:16 And Memphis, if they fell in the top three,

4:18 would be a team that could potentially mix it up

4:21 because the top three have been widely assumed to be Debbansza,

4:25 Peterson, and Boozer.

4:27 But I still think that Memphis could be very interested in Caleb Wilson.

4:31 Right now, I'm still sticking with Cameron Boozer.

4:33 I've been saying this for well over a year.

4:35 He's got the highest floor in this draft.

4:37 He is the shest thing in this draft.

4:40 his overlap of physicality, of skill, and of basketball IQ is second to none.

4:45 People are going to question his creation upside.

4:47 People are going to question his athleticism,

4:50 and it's going to be a conversation about long-term potential,

4:53 which is something that others have always kind of handicapped him in.

4:56 But the bottom line is he was the best

4:58 player in recent history of high school basketball.

5:01 He was the best player in college basketball this past season.

5:04 and I think his ability to dictate winning from day one

5:06 in the NBA will also be probably the best in this class.

5:10 So, I do think Memphis, who has a pristine recent draft history and has

5:15 shown no hesitancy to think against the grain,

5:18 I I do think they'll consider Caleb Wilson, but at the end of the day,

5:21 I still think Boozer is a top three pick.

5:23 And the Bulls get the fourth overall pick,

5:25 which means the Pacers miss out completely on this lottery after rolling

5:30 the dice a little bit with the Avika Zubat's trade at the deadline.

5:34 We'll get to that in a moment, but Chicago's up now.

5:36 Adam, who do you have going to the Windy City?

5:40 You know, it's interesting because I think that they've

5:42 drafted a lot of forwards over the years,

5:44 but if this goes as we expect, they might have their choice of forwards here.

5:47 And I don't see how they could pass on whoever falls to four,

5:49 whether that's Boozer, whether that's Wilson, or maybe even if that's Peterson.

5:53 So, whoever's still on the board, I think will be Chicago's pick.

5:56 In this scenario, it will be Wilson.

5:57 Now, what I will tell you about Caleb Wilson is if you've

6:00 seen some of these videos to come out from his pre-draft training,

6:03 they look phenomenal.

6:05 And now, I'm usually not one to be fooled by those things.

6:08 I mean, remember when Ben Simmons would have one of those come out every year,

6:11 and you'd be like, "Oh, Ben Simmons can shoot now." And he could never shoot.

6:14 But I'm just telling you what,

6:15 that Caleb Wilson highlight video that just came out looks spectacular.

6:19 And I will not be surprised if there's

6:20 significant buzz about him this week in Chicago.

6:23 And if he has a real chance to move up in this draft,

6:25 if he falls to four, I think Chicago takes him.

6:28 They start to build around him and they figure out to do with some

6:31 of the other young forward assets

6:33 that a previous front office acquired in recent years.

6:37 And I do think that's the key.

6:38 This is a new front office in in Chicago.

6:41 they're not going to be committed to former draft picks.

6:44 And so, while there are a lot of young forwards here,

6:46 Caleb Wilson is the best long-term prospect on the board.

6:49 He overachieved and exceeded all expectations this year at at North Carolina.

6:54 He looks phenomenal in the pre-draft process.

6:56 So, if they get him at four, I think they'll be very happy.

6:59 The Pacers name came up at five,

7:02 but that means the pick goes to the Los Angeles Clippers.

7:05 Uh, you've used the word complicated a couple times here already.

7:09 And with all the point guards still on the board

7:12 and most of those premier bigs off the board,

7:14 Adam, what do the Clippers do at five?

7:18 I think they really explore making a move here.

7:20 Um, and and I don't want to start speculating about a about

7:23 a trade less than an hour after the lottery became official,

7:26 but I think if the Clippers had an opportunity to move up,

7:29 they would be very interested in doing that.

7:31 I think maybe if they had an opportunity to move down and pick up another asset,

7:35 if they thought the guy they wanted might be available at six,

7:38 seven or eight, they could be interested in doing that.

7:40 Remember, this is a team facing a lot of uncertainty with kind

7:43 of the fallout of the Kawhi Leonard investigation still to come.

7:46 So, the more young assets they can acquire, the better.

7:49 If everything stays as it is, and they're trying to figure out who's got

7:53 the best chance to play with Darius Garland, my pick would be Katon Waggler.

7:57 Darius Garland is someone they acquired right at the deadline this year.

8:01 He's viewed as a a future cornerstone of that franchise.

8:04 And of those four point guards, the four freshman one and done,

8:08 Waggler is the one with the most onoff ball versatility.

8:11 And there's some people who think he might have the highest upside.

8:15 I'm going to tell you this, Chris,

8:16 this guy came out of nowhere to have the freshman season.

8:19 He did at Illinois.

8:20 He led them all the way to the final four.

8:22 And at numerous steps along the way, we were all thinking there should be more

8:26 of a learning curve than there is right now.

8:28 I remember watching him in Indian Indianapolis.

8:30 this ironically at the final four thinking how was this moment not

8:34 too much for him but no moments were too much for him.

8:37 He didn't have anywhere near the learning curve that he

8:40 should have had and that could be a sign

8:42 of real optimism about what he can become because

8:46 he's still just scratching the surface of his potential.

8:48 So if it stays like this and if the Clippers hold that fifth pick,

8:53 I think Waggler right now looks like he could be the guy.

8:55 Yeah, scary thought that Waggler still has a lot

8:59 ahead of him in terms of his potential.

9:01 Like you said, maybe just scratching the surface.

9:03 All right, that is one through five of Adams mock draft

9:07 now that we know how the NBA draft lottery will shake out.

9:12 AJ Debonta number one overall to Washington followed by Darren Peterson to Utah.

9:17 Cameron Boozer to Memphis.

9:18 Caleb Wilson from North Carolina to Chicago.

9:22 And Katon Waggler, the Illinois point guard going to the Los

9:25 Angeles Clippers getting that pick by way of the Indiana Pacers.

9:30 When we come back here on HQ, we will keep this thing rolling.

9:34 The next five picks.

9:36 Yeah, this guy's still on the board.

9:37 Darius Auff Jr.

9:39 One team would love to get his scoring ability.

9:42 Kingston Flemings, one of those other point guards, Braden Burries.

9:45 Boy, this draft is deep.

9:52 All right, let's keep it rolling here with Adam Finkelstein.

9:55 Now, that NBA mock draft that the lottery is settled.

9:59 We are on number six here, Adam, and that goes to the Brooklyn Nets.

10:03 Uh they took to they took a point guard last year.

10:06 what is the biggest need or do they just simply look

10:10 at the board and say this is the best player available.

10:12 This is what we need in Brooklyn.

10:14 Yeah, I think it's about the best available player,

10:16 but it's also about who has a chance to become their offensive alpha.

10:20 And so that's why I think position doesn't really matter.

10:22 And that's why I think Darius Akuff will be the guy if he's available at six.

10:26 The Nets had four bites at the apple last year

10:29 in the first round and they got some quality pieces,

10:31 but they did not get someone who projects to be

10:33 able to be a true focal point for the team offensively.

10:37 Jaggor Demond was their lottery pick last year.

10:39 He's a great passer.

10:41 He's a connector.

10:41 He's made huge strides as a shooter and he looks like a quality pick,

10:44 but Darius Auff is someone who can come take the ball

10:47 from day one and create offense for himself and his and others.

10:52 So, I think this would make a lot of sense in Brooklyn.

10:55 Akov was the SEC player of the year.

10:56 He was the best freshman guard in college basketball.

10:59 You can make a case he was the best guard period in college basketball.

11:02 He has a unique ability to get to his spots.

11:04 He's a big-time passer.

11:05 He takes care of the ball and he is as polished

11:07 a shot creating guard as there is in this draft.

11:10 And I think if Brooklyn gets him at number six,

11:13 Nets fans who are a little disappointed with the outcome of tonight's

11:16 lottery might feel a lot better about their cases moving forward.

11:19 Adam, obviously we've seen guys outside of the top

11:22 five turn into arguably the best player in that draft,

11:26 but as we sit and talk about Darius Akup Jr.

11:28 here today, it feels like you could make an argument

11:31 now that he's the best player in this draft.

11:34 Yeah, I think no one questions the offense, right?

11:36 So, it's going to come down to two main variables.

11:39 The the physicality, how big is he?

11:41 A lot of people have referred to him

11:42 as an undersized scoring lead guard this year.

11:45 I think based on his high school measurements that he might

11:47 measure out this week in Chicago a little better than some expect.

11:51 And then it comes down to the defense.

11:53 And listen, the bottom line is he's not a particularly engaged defender.

11:58 He often defends to the level of his competition.

12:01 We saw that at Arkansas.

12:02 he's got to keep raising the bar on that end of the floor

12:05 because if you look at recent draft history and some of the guys who

12:08 haven't panned out to be quite as good as expected sometimes it's because

12:11 the defensive limitations are so significant

12:14 that no matter how good the offense is, it can't justify it.

12:17 And so that's the trap for Auff.

12:19 People who are concerned are concerned about the defense.

12:22 If he can prove that, then he's got a chance to be off the board before six.

12:25 All right, so we've got two point guards off

12:27 the board now as we move down to seven.

12:30 Sacramento.

12:31 Uh they could certainly use a lead guard.

12:33 What do you have the Kings doing at seven?

12:35 We're going another point guard, Kingston Flemings,

12:37 who's the be best athlete of this bunch.

12:40 Not just an explosive leaper, but he's got great pace and speed attacking.

12:44 He can get to his pullup anytime he wants.

12:46 I'd say he's probably the best defender or at least has

12:49 the best defensive tools out of these four freshman point guards.

12:53 The swing skill for him is the shooting, right?

12:55 and he started the season at Houston just on an absolute heater,

12:58 which was the complete opposite of what we expected.

13:01 Now, gradually those percentages regressed a little bit,

13:04 but they were still better than we expected.

13:06 If he proves that he can make shots in the NBA,

13:09 if he's someone you can't help off of off the ball,

13:12 if he's someone you can't go under a ball screen on, then he too

13:15 has a chance to be better than he would be as a number seven pick.

13:19 So, I think for the Kings, this is a really good value and someone who you can

13:23 hopefully trust to be your point guard of the future in Sacramento.

13:27 The Hawks made the playoffs this season, six seed in the Eastern Conference,

13:31 and here they are with the eighth overall pick in next month's NBA draft.

13:36 What does Atlanta do here?

13:39 Well, they might need a point guard of the future.

13:41 Nikquille Alexander Walker had a terrific season in in Atlanta,

13:45 but they moved off Trey Young.

13:47 They've got a lot of assets in the middle

13:48 of the lineup and in this point guardheavy middle of the lottery,

13:52 they should have some quality options here.

13:54 I think Mike Brown would be a a really good piece here.

13:58 He is so skilled with the basketball.

14:00 I think he's the most skilled point guard in this draft.

14:03 He's a much better shooter than his numbers indicate this year at Louisville.

14:07 He's also a big-time passer.

14:08 He sees the whole floor and he can throw darts off the dribble with both hands.

14:12 He's a late bloomer who now has really good positional

14:15 size and now we're seeing him start to evolve athletically.

14:18 Now the concerns or maybe questions is a better

14:20 word are going to be about the defensive end.

14:22 Shot selection is something that could have been better this year

14:25 at Louisville and durability given some of the injuries we've seen.

14:28 Now, if he can address all that, this would be tremendous value for Atlanta

14:32 and again it would fit a point of need in their current lineup.

14:38 Dallas will build everything around rookie of the year, of course, Cooper Flag.

14:41 And so at number nine, the Mavericks have their selection.

14:45 What do you think Dallas does here in the best

14:48 interest of the last year's number one overall pick?

14:52 Well, remember they've got a brand new front office.

14:54 Mazujiri coming in and then Mike

14:56 Schmidtz as well from the Portland Trailblazers.

14:59 Now, if all four point guards are off the board,

15:02 I think Braden Bur is the best available prospect.

15:05 Braden Burries is a two-way contributor.

15:07 He's someone who can really get downhill with force, not just in the open floor,

15:11 but he can turn the corner on ball screens

15:12 if he gets to that second side of the floor.

15:14 He's a good spot up shooter,

15:16 so he'll provide some floor spacing around Cooper flag.

15:19 And then he's got an NBA ready body and is a plus defender.

15:22 And I think that is probably the thing

15:24 that people don't consider enough in the draft process,

15:28 at least in public spaces.

15:29 In front offices, they are very concerned

15:31 about not bringing in a defensive liability.

15:33 Braden Burries, you don't have to worry about that.

15:35 So, he's a versatile offensive piece.

15:37 He can defend his position.

15:39 He fits a culture that you're going to have there around Cooper

15:42 Flag and he's someone who can come in and play immediate minutes.

15:45 Remember, if Kyrie Irving gets healthy again,

15:47 the point guard position will be all set.

15:49 Cooper Flag had plenty of onball reps this year.

15:51 So, Burries would fit in nicely and really have an opportunity

15:54 to grow in lock step with Flag for the foreseeable future.

15:59 I don't know if it's a full tearown in Milwaukee,

16:02 but certainly we will talk adnauseium this off season about Giannis

16:06 Tetumpo and whether or not he continues to play for this franchise.

16:10 He led to an NBA championship not all that long ago.

16:12 But at number 10 here, not knowing so much about what happens with Giannis,

16:17 the Bucks just going to take the best guy available.

16:19 Adam, what uh what does Milwaukee do?

16:22 Yeah, that's right.

16:23 I think they're going to take the highest

16:24 upside prospect they can get at this spot.

16:27 And in my opinion, that would be Nate Aean.

16:29 Aean is a pretty polarizing prospect.

16:31 There's a wide range of of opinions on him.

16:34 I've seen some say he could fall all the way out of the lottery.

16:36 I I don't buy that to be candid.

16:38 I mean, we're talking about a 6'10 combo forward who's like elite character,

16:43 the best of the best, going to be beloved in any locker room he's at.

16:47 And although his freshman season at Tennessee had some ups and downs,

16:51 if you take a step back and you kind of chart

16:53 his progression over the course of the last 3 years, it is distinctly linear.

16:57 So this is a late bloomer who's getting better,

16:59 who still has so much untapped potential and is just

17:02 going to be a sponge when it comes to coaching.

17:05 So I think for the Bucks,

17:06 they have an opportunity to get a young man like this in there.

17:09 They'll be able to give him volume right off the bat,

17:11 which will help to accelerate his development.

17:13 I think this would be a worthwhile risk with the 10th pick in the draft.

17:18 All right, we are through the top 10

17:20 with our director of basketball scouting, his NBA mock draft.

17:24 Here's a look at 6 through 10.

17:26 AUF to Brooklyn, Flemings to Sacramento, Brown to Atlanta, Buries to Dallas,

17:33 and the run of guards over when we go to Nate Ament to Milwaukee at number 10.

17:39 We continue on here on HQ with Adam Finkelstein

17:43 and the quote unquote old guys will check in here.

17:47 Couple of bigs from Michigan still on the board.

17:54 Picks one through 10 in Adam Finkelstein's NBA mock draft down.

17:58 Here comes 11 to the Golden State Warriors.

18:01 And Adam, I don't think Golden State got what they

18:02 wanted here in either trade value with an 11th overall

18:06 pick or maybe player value in terms of trying

18:10 to get a real immediate impact player for a championship run.

18:14 What do the Warriors do at 11?

18:17 Well, you know what they did get though?

18:19 They got Steve Kerr back for two more years.

18:21 And that that tells us that uh that they're going

18:23 to keep rolling out with the uh the Steph Curry lineup.

18:26 And uh it also tells us that the style of play is going to stay the same.

18:30 And in that system, I think Ada Mara would make a ton of sense.

18:34 He becomes the first nonfreshman to be picked in this draft.

18:37 Coming off not just a tremendous

18:39 season that culminated with the national championship,

18:41 but a season in which he got better and better as the year went on.

18:45 This guy is 7 foot three, so he's giant, even by NBA standards.

18:50 He's a big-time rim protector.

18:52 We've seen his archetype be very well valued in the NBA over the years.

18:55 But he's more than just a vertical spacer and shot blocker.

18:59 He's also a big-time passer,

19:00 which is going to be critical in Golden State because

19:03 they can run all their actions with him on the floor.

19:06 They can bring him up to the pinch post.

19:07 They can play him off the elbows.

19:09 He's a smart screener, so he can fit right in with what they're

19:12 doing from day one and simultaneously build the bridge

19:15 to the future and be a part of what

19:17 the Warriors may look like in the post Steph Curry,

19:20 Steve Curry, Draymond Green era, whenever that may come about.

19:25 Adam, when you say 73, people will think, "Oh, well, Victor Webbyama is 74,

19:29 but obviously very different games." You talked

19:32 about the archetype fitting back into today's NBA.

19:35 Why shouldn't people be surprised that a guy like Mara would go in the lottery?

19:41 Well, you think about some of the players

19:42 who have exceeded their draft stock in recent years.

19:45 Guys like Walker Kesler or Ryan Kulk Brener,

19:48 and a lot of them were just drop coverage monsters.

19:51 players who could really fit that role in pick and roll defense.

19:55 And Mara can do that.

19:56 But what he can also do is provide you some deceptive versatility.

20:00 This guy's first two years at UCLA, he blitzed ball screens.

20:03 That means he trapped them.

20:04 Again, he's 7 foot three and he was out there trapping ball screens.

20:07 It wasn't perfect, but he did it way better

20:09 than someone his size should be capable of doing it.

20:12 So to have that size,

20:13 to be able to play that archetype where you are that drop coverage

20:16 monster and yet have enough versatility to be able to do things different ways.

20:20 Oh, and then by the way,

20:21 be able to learn under the guidance of a defensive savant like Don Green.

20:26 I I do think this this makes a lot of sense for the Warriors.

20:28 I jokingly called some of these guys coming up here the old guys of the group.

20:33 Technically, I guess they are.

20:34 I'd like to be 23 or 22 though.

20:36 Again, Oklahoma City on the clock at number 12.

20:40 Do we have uh Mara's teammate coming here to the Thunder?

20:45 We sure do.

20:45 Speaking of old guys, Yaka Lundborg going to be a 24year-old NBA rookie,

20:50 but he may be the most versatile player in this draft.

20:53 6'9 with a 7'4 wingspan.

20:55 And he was defending point guards this year at Michigan.

20:58 So he is switchable at least one through four.

21:01 And when you look at what OKC covets,

21:04 they look at guys with a defensive mindset.

21:06 He is that.

21:07 He's also a ball mover.

21:08 He's a big- time passer.

21:10 He's unselfish.

21:11 And the important number to know this year is

21:13 that one at the very bottom of your screen.

21:15 He shot 37% from the three-point line, which was a major improvement.

21:20 Now, he's still got some maturing to do,

21:23 but in OKC, where you have that culture,

21:25 where you have that championship mentality, he would,

21:28 I think, have to buy in very quickly.

21:30 I think this would be a good fit for OKC and a great fit for Yakel Lundborg.

21:36 All right, we go to 13 here and down to the Miami Heat.

21:40 Obviously, they've got some cornerstones to this franchise,

21:44 but scoring would help obviously.

21:47 And this is one of my favorite scorers to watch this past year,

21:50 the last couple of years anyway, uh, out of the SEC.

21:53 Who do you have the heat taking, Adam?

21:56 Leberon Phylon.

21:57 A year ago, he was viewed as a fringe first round pick,

22:00 and so he decided to go back to Alabama to help his draft stock.

22:04 And boy, did he ever.

22:05 Now, how did he do that?

22:06 He proved that maybe he was the best shot creator in this draft.

22:10 And a year ago, he was kind of viewed as a defensive oriented utility guard,

22:14 but right now he's someone who teams think has a chance to be

22:18 a little bit of an engine on the offensive end of the floor,

22:21 especially when you get outside that top eight

22:22 and you're asking yourself who could really generate offensive looks.

22:26 Phon's name is right at the top.

22:28 He was uh an absolute just total

22:32 totally responsible for Alabama's offense this year.

22:35 This was one of the fastest, most potent offenses in the entire country.

22:39 This guy created pace.

22:40 He did it with efficiency.

22:41 He made strides with his shotmaking.

22:43 He did just about everything on that end of the floor.

22:45 And if he can rediscover that defensive

22:48 blueprint that we saw in his freshman season,

22:50 I think he would fit in beautifully with a Heat team that's

22:53 got some questions to answer in the back court this off season.

22:56 And as we round out the top 14 here, the NBA lottery, the Charlotte Hornets,

23:01 clearly a team ascending when you can keep LaMelo Ball healthy,

23:06 a team that made it to the playin this year.

23:09 What fits best for the Hornets at 14?

23:12 I think what would fit best would be sticking to the draft

23:15 philosophy from last year that was so beneficial for them, right?

23:18 Khan Keppel, Ryan Kulk, Brener, Seion James,

23:21 and what was the common denominator between all those guys?

23:24 They all had maturity.

23:26 They were the adults in the room in their respective teams.

23:29 And COA Pete is cut from a very similar cloth.

23:32 Miles Bridg's future in Charlotte is a little unclear,

23:35 so the four spot would be one that they would have real interest in.

23:39 And Pete has undeniable competitive and winning intangibles.

23:42 This guy won four different high school state championships.

23:46 He won four gold medals with USA basketball.

23:48 Then this year he won the Big 12 championship.

23:50 He got to the final four.

23:51 So, everybody's going to talk about whether or not he can shoot.

23:54 But what I can tell you is everybody needs to know this is a worker.

23:57 This is a winner.

23:58 This is someone who can get downhill, play off short roles,

24:01 give you some playmaking from the forward position, is a big-time rebounder,

24:04 and somebody who is physically ready for the NBA from day one.

24:08 Yeah, if he acts like a man,

24:10 he's certainly built like one there after a year with Arizona.

24:15 Adam, good stuff, man.

24:16 We've got the NBA draft now set.

24:18 In terms of the lottery, I know you will be in Chicago for the combine.

24:23 will be following your coverage there

24:25 on social media and of course cbsports.com.

24:28 Let's give you another look here at 11 through4.

24:31 Mara to Golden State, Lenderborg to OKC, Phylon to Miami,

24:37 and KA Pete rounding out the lottery going to Charlotte.

24:42 Adam Finkelstein, our director of basketball scouting at CBS Sports with his NBA

24:48 mock draft just in the moments following the ping pong balls in Chicago.