NBA experts weigh in on Thursday’s NBA draft

Published 9:15 am Thursday, June 22, 2023

It’s a no-brainer who is going No. 1 in the NBA Draft on Thursday.

Victor Wembanyama from France and he’s going to be a San Antonio Spur.

Email newsletter signup

The team, the city, the nation is excited. He threw out the first pitch at a Yankees game and billboards are welcoming him all over San Antonio.

But what about picks 1-5? There is a lot of talk about picks 2 and 3, and potential trades. It gets exciting, with potential trades and who will pick based on need or best player available.

Kyle Boone, an NBA insider from CBS predicts Victor Wembanyama (known as Wemby for the rest of this story) going first to the Spurs, Brandon Miller of Alabama going second to the Charlotte Hornets, Scoot Henderson of G League Ignite third to the Portland Trail Blazers, Amen Thompson of Overtime Elite to the Houston Rockets and Cam Whitmore of Villanova to the Detroit Pistons.

Tom Hughes and Tyler Bielec of Hit Parade and Dave & Adams Card World have a very popular series on Twitch and YouTube where they predict drafts and do breaks of sports cards from all sports.

They rolled out their predictions on social media this week.

“Obviously, the Spurs are going with Wembanyama, the guy they have talked about for two years now, he’s their pick,” Hughes said. “With the second pick, I have Charlotte going with Brandon Miller. They already have Melo there, I think they need a small forward, I think that’s the pick for them.”

Hughes said he believes Portland will trade at three.

But Hughes said if the stay, he believes they will “shock everyone” and take Amen Thompson, who many have at No. 4, including Hughes’ colleague, Bielec.

At No. 4, Hughes has Scoot Henderson, who he feels should go No. 2. 

And at No. 5, Hughes said the best player available will be Cam Whitmore. Hughes has the same top five as ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

Bielec has Wemby, Miller, Henderson, Amen Thompson and his shocker pick is at No. 5 where Bielec says Ausar Thompson, a 6-7 shooting guard from Overtime Elite.

ESPN’s Dick Vitale has these listed for his Top 10:

1) San Antonio Spurs — Victor Wembanyama, C, France

2) Charlotte Hornets — Brandon Miller, F, Alabama

3) Portland Trail Blazers — Scoot Henderson, G, G League Ignite

4) Houston Rockets — Amen Thompson, G, Overtime Elite

5) Detroit Pistons — Cam Whitmore, F, Villanova

6) Orlando Magic — Ausar Thompson, G/F, Overtime Elite

7) Indiana Pacers — Jarace Walker, F, Houston

8) Washington Wizards — Anthony Black, G, Arkansas

9) Utah Jazz — Taylor Hendricks, F, UCF

10) Dallas Mavericks — Dereck Lively II, F, Duke

Gary Parrish, a NBA insider from CBS sports has Wemby, Miller, Henderson, Whitmore and Thompson.

Then there is the guy everyone knows who will go Top 5, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

He has inside knowledge on how workouts went with each team.

“Woj” does believe it will be Wemby, Miller and Henderson the first three, but he said it’s a guessing game after that.

A guessing game for the rest of us.