As is the case with the football season, the end of the NFL draft does not mean that we stop talking about it for the next several months while the prospective participants hone their skills and get ready to make a jump to the next level. No, instead we will turn around the very next morning and talk about the way-too-early look at the 2023 draft.
That’s what greets everyone on Friday morning after the closing of the 2023 NBA Draft on Thursday night. Many of the new picks may not even have touched down in their prospective cities just yet, but already we’ve moved on. We’re now looking at who is going to be the No. 1 pick a year from now.
It seems to pretty much be a consensus opinion that 7-foot-3 athletic freak Victor Wembanyama out of France will garner the top spot. After he is off the board though, things get interesting.
For fans of the Oregon Ducks, this is where you may want to start focusing over the next year.
According to the latest mock draft from Yahoo! Sports, Oregon’s Kel’el Ware will be taken with the No. 10 overall pick. We obviously don’t know to which team just yet, but that puts the Duck’s incoming freshman well inside the draft lottery. Here is what Yahoo! had to say about Ware:
No future NBA prospect has garnered more attention in a short amount of time than Ware. He improved from every high school all-star event in the spring with NBA scouts in attendance and was the leading force in the lane, blocking everything during the FIBA U18 Americas Tournament.
“I’m a center that can shoot the ball, post up, score and defend well and get blocks,” Ware told Yahoo Sports. “So I’m just trying to showcase my versatility and be consistent.”
It will be extremely fun for Oregon fans to watch Ware in Eugene next season, but they may need to enjoy it while they can. Chances are he’s going to be off to a new team after just one season.