2018 NBA Mock Draft Roundup

The Clippers have the 12th and 13th picks in the 2018 NBA Draft, and are considered one of the most intriguing teams in the draft, with rumors of them moving up for a top prospect, or down to accumulate more assets. Here’s a quick overview of some updated mock drafts of who the Clippers will take with those picks.

ESPN:

12: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

13: Lonnie Walker IV

Jonathan Givony might be the most plugged in of any of the major NBA Draft writers, and he has projected one if not both of SGA and Walker to the Clippers for some time now. Per Givony, they make sense as fits on the Clippers’ roster (true), but there isn’t much other reason given for them being the selections. This would be a pretty good draft for the Clippers, in my opinion.

Bleacher Report:

12: Collin Sexton

13: Robert Williams

Jonathan Wasserman is another guy who has been around the NBA Draft for a while, yet he has very different projections than Givony. He calls Sexton an offensive upgrade at point guard, and slots Williams in as a DeAndre Jordan replacement. While I don’t dislike Sexton or Williams as prospects, this would be one of the worst draft outcomes for me, as I like Gilgeous-Alexander better than Sexton, and he’s still on the board in Wasserman’s mock. Williams just doesn’t excite me very much as a prospect.

The Athletic:

12: Lonnie Walker IV

13: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Sam Vecenie is one of the best NBA draft guys out there, and he has the same exact picks as Givony. However, he thinks there’s a decent chance Walker is gone by 12, and also believes the Clippers might move down with one of their picks to get more assets.

SB Nation:

12: Collin Sexton

13: Robert Williams

Hilariously enough, Tom Ziller over at the SB NBA homepage has the same picks as Wasserman, thus completing the cycle of mock drafts. Tom believes Sexton could be another Donovan Mitchell as a scorer, and also places Williams as the DJ replacement.

We are still too far away from the draft to take much solid away from the mock drafts, but it is interesting that between four major NBA sites with vastly different writers and perspectives, only four prospects are projected to the Clippers with their two picks. All the picks seem reasonable, but I wonder if the repetitiveness is due to the tight-lipped nature of the Clippers’ draft process, limiting journalists to guesses rather than intel-based reporting. The most certain fact about the Clippers’ strategy seems to be that they are willing to be flexible with their picks.

We will keep you posted if mock drafts start to shift as the draft approaches. What do you think of the mock drafts here?