NBA Mock Draft
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Rarely do we get a true surprise during the pre-draft process. Most prospects in a particular draft class are known well ahead of time, identified years in advance and projected accordingly. But Shaedon Sharpe’s decision Thursday to declare for the draft after an abbreviated one-and-done season at Kentucky in which he did not play a single minute, while not completely shocking, qualifies as a seismic, and at least somewhat surprising turn of events that may very well flip the 2022 draft on its head.
Sharpe maintained for months after joining the Kentucky program that he planned to return to school in 2022. However, the former No. 1 overall prospect, who reclassified from 2022 to 2021 to be with the Wildcats since January, likely had no choice but to leave. Because even after his stint last season that consisted of no stats and no minutes played, NBA teams still view Sharpe as a clear top-10 prospect in the 2022 class.
Which is where he rather easily falls in our latest mock draft. In fact, we’ve got him mocked No. 4 in this update behind only Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero, and Jabari Smith Jr. There’s room for him to move up or down in the coming months as the pre-draft process unfolds, but the size, the scoring, the skill all make him one of the draft’s most fascinating long-term prospects. And at 18 years old, teams at the top of the lottery will be doing their due diligence on him.
Here’s where Sharpe and the rest of our first-round projections sit after Thursday’s news.