Cooper Flagg to Mavs, Edgecombe to 76ers in ESPN NBA Mock Draft amid Ace Bailey Rumors
The NBA draft is less than 24 hours away, and mock drafts from draft experts are being finalized.
ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo gave their latest mock draft on Tuesday.
Unsurprisingly, Givony and Woo had Cooper Flagg going to the Dallas Mavericks at No. 1. Flagg being the first overall pick has felt like a lock since before he made his debut at Duke last season, and it was more of a matter of what team would win the lottery and have the chance to draft the generational prospect.
Givony and Woo have Dylan Harper going to the San Antonio Spurs at No. 2, another pick that seems like a lock given Harper's outstanding lone season at Rutgers.
With Flagg and Harper almost certainly going first and second overall, the draft gets interesting with the Philadelphia 76ers' pick at No. 3. For much of the college basketball season, it appeared Harper's co-star at Rutgers, Ace Bailey, would go third overall, but his approach to the draft process has seen him fall on many draft boards.
Givony and Woo project the Sixers to take Baylor star VJ Edgecombe, who is widely considered one of the best players in this year's draft. Edgecombe is ranked third on the latest big board from Bleacher Report's NBA staff.
Givony and Woo also noted that the Charlotte Hornets, who have the fourth pick, could end up trading down if Edgecombe is drafted before their pick. For now, they projected Charlotte to take Duke's Kon Knueppel.
Though Bailey has lost his status as a near-lock at No. 3, the consensus seems to be that he's still a top-10 player, and Givony and Woo agree, projecting the Washington Wizards to draft him at No. 6.
