2018 NBA Draft: Who will be the next Donovan Mitchell?
By Amaar Burton
Jalen Brunson, PG — Villanova
It’s nothing new for the best player in college basketball to land far from the top of the NBA Draft board.
One year ago, the top two candidates for just about every national Player of the Year award — Villanova wing Josh Hart and Kansas point guard Frank Mason III — were drafted 30th and 34th overall, respectively.
Brunson finds himself in a similar position. The 6’2″ point guard was not only the consensus National Player of the Year for 2017-18, but he also led the Wildcats to the program’s second national championship in three years. And yet, Brunson is considered a late first round pick at best, with many mock drafts putting him in the second round.
It’s understandable, to an extent. Brunson doesn’t have prototypical size or athleticism for the NBA, and there are concerns about his ability to defend at the pro level.
But they said those same things about Steve Nash. And about John Stockton. And about Mark Jackson, Andre Miller, Tony Parker and Avery Johnson. Each one of them went on to either lead an NBA team to a championship, make the All-Star Game, lead the league in assists, or put together a Hall of Fame career.
Not to put those kind of expectations on Brunson, but his skill-set and track record of success pose a compelling argument that he will be a better NBA player than many experts predict.
If he gets drafted in the 20s or 30s, it’s not a stretch to predict that 20-something teams will be someday be kicking themselves for overlooking him.