The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor released an updated NBA mock draft on Tuesday, and the longtime NBA writer only paired one Duke basketball star with a first-round pick.
[autotag]Jared McCain[/autotag], the sharpshooting freshman, went 17th overall to the Los Angeles Lakers in the projection. The team of four-time NBA champion LeBron James often gets paired with his son, LeBron James Jr., but O’Connor thinks McCain is too great a talent for them to ignore.
McCain shot better than 41% from 3-point range and put together three 30-point games during his one season with the Blue Devils. He’s the seventh-ranked player in the class on O’Connor’s big board, and the writer compares McCain to fellow Duke alum Seth Curry.
“McCain’s shooting prowess and secondary playmaking would make him a great fit with Anthony Davis in the long term,” O’Connor wrote.
[autotag]Kyle Filipowski[/autotag], the sophomore 7-footer who made the Second Team All-American squad last season, has spent much of the pre-draft process as a presumed first-rounder. In this new hypothetical, however, he went to the Toronto Raptors with the first pick of the second round.
With more than 16 points and eight rebounds per game, Filipowski really makes his statement with a 35% 3-point rate and 2.8 assists per game. However, The Ringer writer thinks his rim presence and turnover rate leave something to be desired.
The NBA draft begins on June 26 and the first round will be broadcast on ESPN and ABC.