The team that will likely be the runaway winners – or losers – for the top spot in the NBA Draft lottery figures to be the Golden State Warriors. With the league on pause, the Warriors hold the worst record in the league by four full games.
But while the team is the favorite to hold the top spot in the 2020 NBA Draft, all reports suggest they’re hesitant on the players that figure to be the favorites at the top of the draft. Given the team’s expected desire to win now, any draft pick will be expected to contribute right away, a tough task for even the best draft picks.
As a result, signs continue to point to the Warriors not being interested in many of the top prospects. In a recent Q&A article, San Francisco Chronicle writer Connor Letourneau was asked the odds of LaMelo Ball being drafted by Golden State.
Very, very low. League sources don’t believe the Warriors are high on Ball — not because of the drama surrounding his father, but because he’s quite flawed for a top-3 prospect.
Ball’s court vision and passing ability are superb, but he has yet to prove he can knock down 3-pointers consistently, defend NBA athletes or improve his shot selection. There’s also the matter of positional fit. Ball projects as a point guard at the next level, and the Warriors already have a pretty darn good one in Curry.
This goes in line with previous reports of the Warriors and Ball not likely being a match whenever the draft is held. It makes sense that the two aren’t a perfect fit as Ball is a long-term project as a prospect that will need the ball in his hands more often than not.
For the Warriors, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will already hold down the guard spots and Ball would be an awkward fit, similar to the short-lived D’Angelo Russell era in Golden State.
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