The 2018 NBA Draft gets underway Thursday at 4 p.m. PDT. Do you know what your favorite team — and your favorite fan site — will be doing?
The future of the NBA — and the Portland Trail Blazers — will be on display Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The 2018 NBA draft will be broadcast live on ESPN and NBA TV starting at 4 p.m. PDT.
One of the tried-and-true traditions heading into the draft — well, definitely tried, although not necessarily true — is making predictions as to which players will go to which teams. I don’t do predictions. (OK, sometimes I do predictions, but it’s pretty rare for me.)
Rip City Project
But I like to read predictions written by other people. And fortunately for me, I happen to work for a fan site that publishes a bunch of smart and informed people who are quite happy to make predictions.
More from Blazers Draft
- 4 Prospects Blazers should already be scouting for 2024 NBA Draft
- Ranking the Portland Trail Blazers’ 4 best offseason moves
- Re-drafting 2018 class: How far does Blazers’ Anfernee Simons climb?
- Trail Blazers potential depth chart, rotation after 2023 NBA Draft
- 5 Moves Blazers should make after drafting Scoot Henderson
Before I get to those, though, I want to point you toward a couple of stories we did on the No. 24 pick itself, which is where the Blazers will be staking their claim to the future (barring any draft-night trades).
First of all, the No. 24 pick has been pretty good for Portland. Both Terry Porter and Hall-of-Famer Arvydas Sabonis were the 24th pick in the draft. And that slot in the draft has also brought other quality players to the NBA: Shabazz Napier; Kyle Lowry; Derek Fisher; Latrell Sprewell, to name a few.
Blazers
So who might the Blazers pick?
We’ve written about Louisville’s Ray Spalding, a 6-foot-10 center. As we wrote in that piece:
"Mock drafts have Ray Spalding going in the late second round or even undrafted. The Blazers won’t use pick No. 24 on him, but he becomes a possibility if the team trades for a second rounder."
Who else is on the RCP radar?
How about Moritz Wagner, a 6-foot-11, 245-pound forward out of Michigan? We like him.
"Mo Wagner would be a great fit for this Portland system. As an excellent three-point shooter and a solid defender, Mo can contribute and make the Blazers better from day one."
Next: Why Kawhi won’t be a Portland Trail Blazer
Finally, we compiled a list of five players that Portland might be thinking about.
Should be a fun night. Make sure you come to the RCP for the latest news on draft night. And don’t forget to lock in our Twitter feed right now.