Warriors News: Who Experts Expect Team to Select with No. 2 Pick

Although the Golden State Warriors didn't come away with the top pick in Thursday night's NBA draft lottery, they won't be waiting long to make their first selection at the draft this October. After the Minnesota Timberwolves use the No. 1 pick, the Warriors will then be on the clock at No. 2.

There's no consensus top prospect in this year's draft class, so it's not clear who the Timberwolves will be taking with the top selection. But the Warriors will come away with one of the class' top-tier players, unless they decide to shop the pick and either trade down or deal it for a proven player.

And don't rule out that latter possibility. On Wednesday, Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Golden State would be "more likely" to trade down in the draft if it landed either the No. 2 or No. 3 pick, which has now happened. Letourneau wrote that the Warriors are "not necessarily as high" on Memphis center James Wiseman and point guard LaMelo Ball as teams that consider them among the top three prospects in the class.

However, Warriors general manager Bob Myers wasn't ready to commit to shopping the pick when speaking with the media Thursday night.

"A lot of people are talking about trades. The first thing we have to do is rank our board," Myers said, per Letourneau.

One of the reasons why the Warriors went an NBA-worst 15-50 this season was because of injuries, as Klay Thompson missed the entire year and Stephen Curry was limited to five games. With both guards and Draymond Green still on their roster, there's the potential that 2020-21 will be a bounce-back season for Golden State, so it's easy to see why there's speculation about it trading the No. 2 pick in order to stay in win-now mode.

But what if the Warriors decide their best move is to use the pick? Who are the draft experts projecting them to potentially take?

The Athletic's Sam Vecenie thinks it would make sense for Golden State to draft Wiseman as it's "been looking for an answer at the center position for a while." But Vecenie made that his projection in his mock draft with a caveat.

"Expect the Warriors to put this pick on the trade market and see what happens," Vecenie wrote. "They have a veteran core that they believe can get right back into the mix next season to potentially win a championship."

Vecenie's mock isn't the only one projecting Wiseman to go to Golden State if the team decides to keep the pick, as Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman and Stadium's Jeff Goodman also have the Warriors taking the 7"1' center.

While some mocks have Georgia shooting guard Anthony Edwards going No. 1 to Minnesota, ESPN's Jonathan Givony has Ball getting taken by the Timberwolves. That leaves Edwards to go to Golden State at No. 2, as Givony noted the 6"5' guard would "add instant offense to an already high-powered nucleus."

The 2020 NBA draft isn't set to take place until Oct. 16, so the Warriors have nearly two months to decide what they want to do with the No. 2 pick. And with that much time, there's sure to be plenty more buzz and speculation about whether Golden State will even be the team using the selection come draft night.