NBA insiders have been oddly quiet on the 2024 draft after the reporting misses of recent years
Prominent insiders appear to be taking a step back from the NBA Draft.
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Hoops fans, welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s draft day! And as I’m publishing this, after 2:30 p.m. ET, we’ve yet to receive a single day-of report from a major NBA insider about what teams at the top of the draft plan to do.
I, for one, am stunned.
This is a difference in approach from what we’ve come to expect over the last couple years, when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania both reported on what certain teams were thinking on the day of the draft and ended up being wrong.
Last year, Charania tweeted that Scoot Henderson was gaining momentum as the No. 2 pick, only for the Charlotte Hornets to take Brandon Miller instead. And in 2022, Wojnarowski tweeted the order of picks one through three as being increasingly firm, only for his reported No. 3 pick, Paolo Banchero, to go first overall.
Those were drafts with better prospects at the top. In a year like 2024, where there are no sure-fire bets, I was certain we’d get all kinds of reports the day of the draft about what teams were planning to do. There’s certainly more than enough interest. Instead, it’s been mostly quiet on the draft front outside of a the few Atlanta Hawks rumors that have been floating around for at least a week now.
Most reports are saying the Hawks will take Zaccharie Risacher, including one yesterday from Wojnarowski, who called Risacher “prominent” in Atlanta’s conversations. However, even he hedged in his reporting more than usual, saying the Hawks have not yet landed on who they’re going to take.
Woj reporting that the Hawks have Zaccharie Risacher high on their board at No. 1 but still undecided who they’ll select on draft night. #TrueToAtlanta pic.twitter.com/WKeP4LDQHU
— Hawks Lead (@HawksLead) June 26, 2024
As I see it, either this is the most tight-lipped draft ever, or these reporters are spooked.
Of course, that lack of reporting could be due to the lack of a consensus of the players in this draft, which leaves more room for people to be wrong. But I’m having a hard time believing it isn’t also a result of reporters finally learning their lesson.
The draft is fluid, and teams don’t want people to know what they’re doing. After a couple high-profile misses caused controversy due to how they moved betting lines, insiders may have simply decided their reputations aren’t worth risking for the sake of being first about something we’ll all find out in a few hours anyway.
For bettors, that leaves a lot less information out there to be used to make informed wagers. But it also leaves some opportunity, as it means less information for oddsmakers to use. We’re all working with the same player evaluations and rumors to base our odds and bets, and it’s kind of refreshing.
There’s still a few hours until the draft, though. Still plenty of time for Shams or Woj to drop a bomb and ruin the bliss.
Kevin Durant … to the Houston Rockets?
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Knicks made a big splash Tuesday ahead of free agency, trading a boatload of first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges. And though they probably gave up too much for a player of Bridges’ talent, it was certainly a good move considering the win-now path they’re on.
However, lost in all the excitement of New York growing its Villanova collective was a smaller trade that took place between the Nets and Houston Rockets.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Brooklyn got its 2026 first-round pick back from Houston in exchange for the 2027 first-round pick Brooklyn acquired from the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant trade. And one of the implications of this deal is Houston reportedly planning to use that Phoenix pick to try to pry Kevin Durant away from the Suns.
The implications of the Rockets landing the Suns' picks? Houston wants to trade for Kevin Durant and that becomes far easier if they can return the Suns' picks that they gave up in the Durant deal to the Nets. Suns have said they're keeping Durant for now, but that could change…
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2024
This is some interesting stuff, man.
The Boston Celtics just won the NBA championship last week, and the offseason is already on 100. Bridges was a massive deal, but if Durant gets moved (again!), that’s a power shift on another level. It would give a capped-out Suns roster some much needed breathing room, and it would likely push the Rockets from a team that just missed the playoffs to a team many of us would pick to make it next year — depending on who they’d have to give up in a deal.
At the same time, I’m still not sure I’d pick Houston to compete for a championship. So I’m not sure mortgaging their future for a soon-to-be 36-year-old star is the smartest move.
Either way, I’m here for the drama. This is something to keep an eye on as the offseason progresses.
Shootaround
— Bryan Kalbrosky’s NBA Mock Draft 10.0 has predictions for all 58 picks
— Blake Schuster’s best bets for the draft include a Bronny James prop
— The best team fit for the top 14 NBA Draft prospects
— Marcus Smart was so proud of the Celtics for winning the title