Basketball
NBA Draft 2024
The Boston Celtics were crowned NBA Champions of 2023/24 and, capping off a great season of basketball, the players now get a well-deserved period of rest and recovery after a long season.
However, the front offices of each team will be working harder than ever in preparation for the NBA Draft of 2024. Each team will now be planning out who they want to draft to their roster to improve their squad.
Unlike 2023’s clearcut first pick, French big man Victor Wembanyama, the picture doesn’t seem as clear this year and there’s a number of players that could be picked first this year.
Bet on the 2024 NBA Draft with William Hill
The NBA Lottery
As a way of attempting to balance the talent across all teams in the NBA, the lottery is used to allocate what number draft pick is given to each team. The worst performing teams from the previous season get to pick at the top end of the draft meaning they will likely get better talent to improve their rosters. This year, the Atlanta Hawks were determined the first pick in the NBA Draft, followed by the Washington Wizards and the Houston Rockets.
The first pick
The current market leader to go first is Alexandre Sarr at 8/13. The Frenchman seems the best fit currently for the Hawks who did struggle on the defensive end last year. Sarr is an athletic 7’1” forward who is proficient defensively and offers a threat offensively as well. He would have an immediate impact defensively for the Hawks and arguably has the highest potential of those in the draft, due to the fluidity of his play at his size. If he was able to develop his playmaking abilities or his three-point shot, he would become a unique type of player due to his height and wingspan, and you’d likely be looking at a future All-Star. Even at his current level, he fits the bill for Atlanta.
Despite this, there are questions over his impact offensively, which brings Zaccharie Risacher, who’s 6/4 to be the first pick, into the equation. Also French, Risacher is far more competent offensively, he’s developed into a real shooting force, making 39% of his three-pointer attempts, with a 46% field goal conversion rate overall. His ceiling probably isn’t as high as that of Sarr’s, but with his offensive capabilities, there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t develop into a high-level player at the very least and seems a safer bet for his abilities to transfer over to NBA basketball. He can be backed to be the second pick in the 2024 NBA draft at 20/23.
A potential outsider
There is a unique name in the 2024 NBA Draft class, son of four-time MVP winner and one of the all-time greats LeBron James, Bronny James is eligible to be drafted this year. He is a 50/1 shot to be first pick and the same price to go second, Bronny is projected to be a standard rotation player at NBA level, but due to who his father is, this may see him be picked much higher up the order.
LeBron James had mentioned that it would be an honour to finish his NBA career alongside his son Bronny, the incentive for a team to draft Bronny if it means Lebron likely joins him is massive. The added number of jerseys a team would sell, the extra numbers of fans attending games, the interest in the team would rise markedly if LeBron was a part of it and this could well be a factor that affects who at the top of the lottery will pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
