We’re now deep into March Madness season, and it’s a good time to reset The Athletic’s NBA Draft Big Board, which has seen quite a bit of shake-up since the previous update. The top tier remains the same, but very little beyond that is truly settled. There is a bit more excitement overall brewing for this class from NBA teams than in previous iterations of the board, but teams still consider this to be an average to below-average draft, depending on who declares and how many players test their luck with the process.
Above all, what I think is worth stressing as we go into this crazy, beautiful swing of basketball madness is that there is an awful lot still up for grabs, especially in the first round from No. 15 on down. Players who emerge this month have every opportunity to be able to push themselves into the conversation to be taken in Round 1. The difference between the players ranked No. 15 and No. 58 here is really minimal, and a big month in the games that matter most could really work to push guys from going back to school toward declaring for the draft. There is so much space for real shake-up by the time this gets updated again in April.
In that vein, here is the top-100 board. It’s worth noting some things. We’re trying a new format here that splits up our board and allows us to talk a bit more about a wider variety of players. Additionally, it’s worth writing in a few notes as usual.
I do not rank freshmen who come in below No. 50. If a player outside of that group decides to declare for the draft, I will consider them as an addition to the board at that point, but not beforehand.
This board does not take team fit into account. What it tries to do is take the general direction of the NBA and slot in players who I think will play a role at the next level in the largest variety of situations.
