2018 NBA Draft: The best NBA team for each top prospect
By Max Holm
Too often when evaluating prospects and their potential, we don’t take into account the teams they land on. Fit might be the most critical part of drafting.
With such a strong potential draft class, we’re looking even closer at prospects at the top. We’re looking for strengths, weaknesses and everything in between. This is a natural part of studying from afar, especially not as NBA scouts. With that in mind, arguably the most important part of drafting and development is completely out of the hands of prospects.
Where a player lands on draft night can make or break their first contract. Why do so many players bust, boom or catch on late? Oftentimes, what team they landed on and what opportunities and coaching were like played a huge role. So before we get carried away with March Madness, I want to look at what NBA teams would be conducive to each top prospect reaching their maximum potential.
In terms of narrowing down top prospects, I’m going mostly with who I think the top players are. I thought about throwing Miles Bridges or Collin Sexton in. However, I believe there’s a significant drop-off after the top nine players.
So with that in mind, we’ll look at nine prospects and where they would best fit among the lottery teams. Those nine players are Luka Doncic, DeAndre Ayton, Trae Young, Marvin Bagley III, Mohamed Bamba, Mikal Bridges, Jaren Jackson Jr., Michael Porter Jr. and Wendell Carter Jr. They are not listed in order like a big board. A team like the Cleveland Cavaliers would be a great fit for most players, so I tried not to repeat any team more than twice.