Can you feel that coming through the window? You know what that is, right?

It’s a draft. And it feels great.

NBA Draft season is officially underway. Yes, the playoffs have been riveting (and I’m just sick for Jayson Tatum), but there has also been plenty of action this week in the Windy City. From the G League Elite Camp to the Monday’s lottery (Mavs? Conspiracy!) to the NBA Combine, with all its measurements and tests, the action has been fast and furious and also quite speculative. Which is just how we love it.

We’re ready at Hoops HQ to give you the latest inside information as we approach the Main Event on June 25-26. Our two draft experts, Jonathan Wasserman and Krysten Peek, are on the case. Wass updated his first round projections based on the results of the lottery, and Krysten reports today from Chicago on the 10 players who helped themselves the most at the combine. And we’ll have plenty by way of buzz, insight and movement from our entire roster in the weeks to come.

We’ve also got our usual look at the Portal Madness, courtesy of our partners at The Portal Report, as well as the inside scoop on LSU’s dynamite transfer class from our SEC insider Chris Dortch. Remember, at Hoops HQ there is no off-season, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

So have a great Thursday and get ready for some fun. Thanks as always for your support of Hoops HQ. — Seth

Top 10 Risers From the NBA Draft Combine

By Krysten Peek

While the NBA playoffs progress in riveting fashion from Boston to California and various points in between, the center of the NBA Draft universe has been taking hold in Chicago. From May 9-11, the league held its G League Elite Camp at Wintrust Arena. On Monday, the league staged its annual draft lottery at the McCormick Convention Center, where the Dallas Mavericks earned the right to draft Cooper Flagg despite having a 1.8 percent chance of winning. The next day, the NBA Draft Combine got underway with all the players participating in skills and agility testing at Wintrust Arena as well as medical exams at an adjacent hotel.

The action got even more interesting on Wednesday with the first day of the five-on-five scrimmages inside Wintrust Arena. Those games will continue today, but there is already plenty of buzz coming out of all the happenings this week. Even after the combine wraps up later today, that chatter will continue to build as the June 25 draft approaches.

Allowing that there is still plenty of time for significant movement, here is a ranking of the top 10 players who helped themselves the most this week in Chicago.

The Mavs Will Pick Cooper Flagg. Who’s Going Next?

By Jonathan Wasserman

The NBA Draft lottery took place Monday night in Chicago and the result was stunning. The Dallas Mavericks, who had just a 1.8 percent chance of winning, won the lottery and were awarded the No. 1 pick.

The Mavericks’ decision what to do with that pick will be a lot less stunning. Unless they trade the pick away — and as we all know, it would not be out of character for the Mavericks to make a shocking trade – they are going to use that pick to select Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward has been earmarked as a top pick ever since he was a sophomore in high school. Regardless of what happens between now and June 25 regarding trades and other transactions, Flagg will be the first player to hear his name called.

The order from there is a little less certain and will become even more unpredictable as the night goes on. There will be a lot of reshuffling as a result of this week’s NBA Draft Combine, which will wrap up on Thursday in Chicago. Here, then, is the latest version of Hoops HQ’s mock draft with the top of the draft now set in its proper order.

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