It’s not as if the top-rated talent—prospects such as Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman—won’t still be among the first half-dozen players taken, but the exact order at the top, along with decisions made throughout the draft, could be based more on actual performance than perceived potential this year. “This is a basketball person’s draft, based on actual basketball play,” the front-office executive says. “The high-ranking decision-makers who have been working all year aren’t going to miss a beat. It’s going to expose the GMs who were flying around with their teams staying in Four Seasons rather than going [to scout] in Dayton, Ohio, and staying at the Courtyard Marriott. If there are no more data points coming in, they’re screwed.”