2024 NBA Mock Draft 2.0 : Projecting the first round before the season, with Alex Sarr rising

Before the 2023-24 NBA season begins, we wanted to take another look at how the upcoming draft class is shaping up.

Most scouts would tell you that this isn’t as exciting of a class without a big name like Victor Wembanyama (or even Scoot Henderson, Brandon Miller or either Thompson twin) in the mix.

But that does not mean there isn’t value across the board that executives can find, especially as some prospects will certainly have breakout campaigns for their respective teams.

After extensive research and conversations around the league, based on our intel and projections, this is how we see the 2024 NBA Draft unfolding as of right now.

You’ll notice that, as ESPN did, we excluded Bronny James from these projections. If he returns with a clean bill of health, that could change in our next mock draft.

Unless noted otherwise, all data was pulled from our friends at Cerebro Sports — you can create a free account to evaluate player performance across all levels globally. We also used AI-Powered statistics provided by the Stats Perform database.

Our order was determined based on reversed odds to win the 2024 NBA Finals. The teams outside the top eight in each conference were considered lottery squads. Trades were pulled from this database at RealGM.

With all that in mind, here is how I’d project the 2024 NBA Draft:

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