NBA Mock Draft: Embiid Best Player, Parker Likely No. 1 Pick

While Major League Baseball teams are drafting players they hope will eventually help, the basketball players taken on June 26 can change teams immediately. The Cleveland Cavaliers won 17 games in 2003, then 35, 42 and 50, respectively, the next three years after drafting LeBron James. 

They won 61 games the last year he was a Cavalier, and 19 games the first year without him. We now project Joel Embiid as the top player on our NBA Big Board at Drafttek. However, Embiid is a Center (5.0 position code) and Cleveland’s top two needs are Small Forward (3.0) and then Point Guard (1.0), and so we expect them to take Jabari Parker (3.5, can play small forward or power forward). All 60 draft picks and the top likely invites for the teams without picks are listed below.

The team attempts to get the best player on the Big Board at the position of most need, but will go with a second or third position need if they can get a player much higher on the Big Board. Therefore the place the player is picked in the mock draft is listed to the far left, while how well we calculate they are likely to do is reflected by the Big Board position to the far right. For example, we exact Andrew Wiggins of Kansas to go with the 2nd pick to Milwaukee because they need a shooting guard and small forward (and he can do both a 2.5) more than they need a center. Therefore Wiggins is picked as just the 5th best player despite being 2nd in the draft. 

Pick	Team	Top Need/Already	Next Need	Mock Pos	Pos	Player	College	Big Board
1	Cleveland	3	1	3.5	SF-PF	Jabari Parker	Duke	2
2	Milwaukee	2, 2, 3, 3.5	4	2.5	SG-SF	Andrew Wiggins	Kansas	5
3	Philadelphia	3.5	3, 3, 5	5	C	Joel Embiid	Kansas	1
4	Orlando	1	4	1	PG	Marcus Smart	Oklahoma State	3
5	Utah	1		1.5	PG-SG	Dante Exum	Australian IOS	4
6	Boston	2, 3.5, 4		4	PF	Aaron Gordon	Arizona	7
7	LA Lakers	1, 1	5	4.5	PF-C	Noah Vonleh	Indiana	6
8	Sacramento	2	4	4	PF	Julius Randle	Kentucky	8
9	Charlotte	3	3.5	3.5	SF-PF	Dario Saric	Cibona Zagreb	9
10	Philadelphia	already picked 5	3, 3, 3.5	3.5	SF-PF	TJ Warren	N.C. State	13
11	Denver	1.5	2, 2, 3, 3	1	PG	Tyler Ennis	Syracuse	12
12	Orlando	already picked 1	4	4	PF-SF	Doug McDermott	Creighton	11
13	Minnesota	1.5, 2, 2.5, 3	1, 4.5	2	SG	Nik Stauskas	Michigan	15
14	Phoenix	5	3	5	C	Jusuf Nurkic	Cedevita	10
15	Atlanta	1.5, 1.5	2	2	SG	PJ Hairston	Tex Legends	16
16	Chicago	2	1, 1.5, 4	2	SG	Zach LaVine	UCLA	17
17	Boston	already picked 4	2.0, 3.5	2	SG	Jordan Adams	UCLA	20
18	Phoenix	already picked 5	3	3	SF	Kyle Anderson	UCLA	19
19	Chicago	already picked 2	1, 1.5, 4	4	PF	Clint Capela	Chalon	14
20	Toronto	1	1.5	1	PG	Vasilije Micic	Mega Vizura	27
21	Oklahoma City	5	2.5	5	C	Mitch McGary	Michigan	22
22	Memphis	2	1, 1.5	2	SG	Gary Harris	Michigan State	21
23	Utah	already picked 1.5	1	4	PF	Kristaps Porzingis	Sevilla	18
24	Charlotte	already picked 3.5	3	3	SF	Rodney Hood	Duke	24
25	Houston	1	2.5	1	PG	Shabazz Napier	Connecticut	32
26	Miami	1	4	4	PF	Adreian Payne	Michigan State	26
27	Phoenix	already picked 5, 3	1, 2.5	3	SF	KJ McDaniels	Clemson	25
28	LA Clippers	3	4, 4.5, 4	2.5	SG-SF	James Young	Kentucky	23
29	Oklahoma City	already picked 5	2.5	4	PF	Jarnell Stokes	Tennessee	28
30	San Antonio	5	4	5	C	Walter Tavares	Gran Canaria	31
31	Milwaukee	already picked 2.5	2, 3.5	3.5	SF-PF	Jerami Grant	Syracuse	29
32	Philadelphia	already picked 5, 3.5	3,3	3	SF	Glenn Robinson	Michigan	33
33	Cleveland	already picked 3.5	1	1	PG	Elfrid Payton	La Lafayette	34
34	Dallas	3	1, 5	3	SF	T Antetokounmpo	Delaware	35
35	Utah	already picked 1.5, 4	1	1	PG	Russ Smith	Louisville	49
36	Milwaukee	already picked 2.5, 3.5	4	4.5	C-PF	Patric Young	Florida	37
37	Toronto	already picked 1	1.5	5	C	Artem Klimenko	Saratov	36
38	Detroit	1.5	2, 2.5, 3	2	SG	Bogdan Bogdanovic	Partizan	30
39	Philadelphia	already picked 5, 3.5, 3	3	3	SF	Cleanthony Early	Wichita State	38
40	Minnesota	already picked 2	3	3	SF	Damien Inglis	Roanne	41
41	Denver	already picked 1	2, 2, 3, 3	2	SG	Spencer Dinwiddie	Colorado	39
42	Houston	already picked 1	2.5	2	SG	Jabari Brown	Missouri	42
43	Atlanta	already picked 2	1.5, 1.5	2	SG	CJ Wilcox	Washington	44
44	Minnesota	already picked 2, 3	1, 1.5, 2.5, 4.5	4.5	PF-C	Johnny O’Bryant	LSU	47
45	Charlotte	already picked 3.5, 3.0	1, 2, 2.5	2	SG	Devyn Marble	Iowa	45
46	Washington	5	3	5	C	Nikola Jokic	Mega Vizura	40
47	Philadelphia	5th pick	best available	4	PF	Dwight Powell	Stanford	43
48	Milwaukee	already picked 2.5, 3.5, 4.5	best available	4	PF	Khem Birch	UNLV	46
49	Chicago	already picked 2, 4	1, 1.5	1	PG	Deonte Burton	Nevada	52
50	Phoenix	already picked 5, 3, 3	1, 2.5	2	SG	Nick Johnson	Arizona	53
51	Dallas	already picked 3	1, 5	5	C	Isaiah Austin	Baylor	48
52	Philadelphia	6th pick	best available	4	PF	Rasmus Larsen	Manresa	50
53	Minnesota	already picked 2, 3, 4.5	1, 1.5	1.5	PG-SG	Jordan Clarkson	Missouri	56
54	Philadelphia	7th pick	best available	3	SF	DeAndre Daniels	Connecticut	51
55	Miami	already picked 4	1	5	C	Moussa Diagne	Fuenlabrada	55
56	Denver	already picked 1, 2	2, 3, 3, 2.5	2	SG	Sean Kilpatrick	Cincinnati	54
57	Indiana	2	2.5	2	SG	Semaj Christon	Xavier	57
58	LA Lakers	already picked 4.5	1, 1	1	PG	Jahii Carson	Arizona State	62
59	Toronto	already picked 1, 5	1.5	1.5	PG-SG	DeAndre Kane	Iowa State	61
60	San Antonio	already picked 3.5	5	4	PF	Cory Jefferson	Baylor	60
camp	Brooklyn	3	1.5, 4	3.5	SF	CJ Fair	Syracuse	59
camp	Golden State	3	1.5, 2.5	3	SF	Ioannis Papapetrou	Olympiakos	58
camp	New Orleans	5	1.5	5	C	Alec Brown	UW-Green Bay	68
camp	NY Knicks	1, 1	1.5	1	PG	Kendall Williams	New Mexico	77
camp	Portland	1.5	1, 2	2	SG	Markel Brown	Oklahoma State	64

Brooklyn, Golden State, New Orleans, New York and Portland do not have any picks, so we listed them at the bottom and the undrafted player they would be most likely to invite to camp to try to make the team. The rest of the top 100 prospects are listed below. These players have a long-shot of making the NBA, but could draw paychecks playing overseas or in the D-League.

63, James McAdoo, North Carolina, 4 PF

65, Joe Harris, Virginia, 3 SF

66, Josh Huestis, Stanford, 3 SF

67, Melvin Ejim, Iowa St., 3 SF

69, Jordan McRae, Tennessee, 2 SG

70, LaQuinton Ross, Ohio State, 3 SF

71, Juvonte Reddic, VCU, 4 PF

72, Akil Mitchell, Virginia, 4 PF

73, Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh, 2 SG

74, Xavier Thames, San Diego St., 2 SG

75, Andre Dawkins, Duke, 2 SG

76, Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall, 3 SF

78, Cameron Bairstow, New Mexico, 4.5 PF

79, Jordan Bachynski, Arizona State, 5 C

80, Shayne Whittington, Western Michigan, 4 PF

81, Aaron Craft, Ohio State, 1 PG

82, Richard Solomon, California, 4 PF

83, Justin Jackson, Cincinnati, 3.5 SF

84, Mike Moser, Oregon, 4 PF

85, Javon McCrea, Buffalo, 4 PF

86, Taylor Braun, North Dakota St., 3 SF

87, Billy Baron, Canisius, 1 PG

88, Casey Prather, Florida, 3 SF

89, Keith Appling, Michigan State, 1 PG

90, Niels Giffey, Connecticut, 3 SF

91, Jerrelle Benimon, Towson, 4 PF

92, Bryce Cotton, Providence, 1.5 PG

93, Scottie Wilbekin, Florida, 1 PG

94, Davante Gardner, Marquette, 5 C

95, Joe Jackson, Memphis, 1 PG

96, Ronald Roberts, Saint Joseph’s, 4 PF

97, Jamil Wilson, Marquette, 3.5 SF

98, Cameron Clark, Oklahoma, 3 SF

99, Kendrick Perry, Youngstown State, 1 PG