Which teams were the winners and losers of the 2024 NBA draft? While we won’t know exactly how every prospect will fare over the next few seasons, we can make judgements on picks based on value of the selection and how teams maneuvered the board.
Let’s grade how all 30 teams did in the league’s first two-day draft, which was marked by a large collection of French players selected and, of course, Bronny James‘ entry into the NBA.
Generally speaking, my grades for teams are based on how well they maximized the picks they entered the draft with rather than simply how much talent they accumulated, given that’s more a product of last season’s record (or past trades) than decision-making in the draft. I use my player projections as a guide for the value of prospects — based on their age, performance and more metrics — and take into account whether they were drafted higher or lower than those projections.
Let’s get into my grades, going in alphabetical order:
Jump to a team:
ATL | BOS | BKN | CHA | CHI | CLE
DAL | DEN | DET | GS | HOU | IND
LAC | LAL | MEM | MIA | MIL | MIN
NO | NY | OKC | ORL | PHI | PHX
POR | SAC | SA | TOR | UTAH | WAS
Round 1: Zaccharie Risacher (No. 1)
Round 2: Nikola Djurisic (No. 43 via Miami)
In a draft without a consensus No. 1 prospect, Atlanta went with perhaps the closest thing in Risacher, whose size and shooting fills a need in the Hawks’ future starting five alongside power forward Jalen Johnson and whichever point guard the team keeps.
Because Risacher did relatively little to fill out the box score playing in France, I had him ranked behind Reed Sheppard, Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan in terms of potential. Given the eye of the beholder nature of this year’s draft, however, evaluating Risacher as the top prospect was reasonable.
Originally, Atlanta held only the No. 1 pick. The Hawks added a second-round pick Thursday in a deal sending AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets and took Serbian guard Nikola Djurisic, the second-lowest rated draft pick in my stats-based projections.
Round 1: Baylor Scheierman (No. 30)
Round 2: Anton Watson (No. 54)
With all eight players who saw at least 20 minutes of action in the NBA Finals under contract, the Celtics had the luxury of drafting with an eye toward a couple of years down the road. Given that framework, I…
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