NBA Draft 2019: 5 Biggest Losers

The NBA Draft used to be an occasion for the basement teams in the league to consolidate their resources and plan their rebuild up until last year. With the changed lottery odds for 2019, however, there were a couple of upheavals, and the #1 overall pick went to the New Orleans Pelicans, who had only the 8th best odds of getting it.

Also riding their lucky stars were the Los Angeles Lakers, whose 11th place finish in the lottery sweepstakes was negated by them bagging the #4 overall pick in the actual lottery. They used this asset to get verbal confirmation for the Anthony Davis trade. The Lakers, in turn, dealt him to Atlanta in exchange for cap space and assets this upcoming season, and the shadow of this trade loomed large over draft day.

Let's take a look at the 5 most crestfallen stakeholders from NBA Draft 2019:

#1 Phoenix Suns

While the organization actually may have won the trade on the day, the Suns may end up regretting their decision to trade down to pick 11th instead of 6th. With a glaring abyss at the point guard position within the roster (DeAnthony Melton was their best traditional 1-guard), they could have taken a punt at Coby White or Darius Garland to pair with their max player Devin Booker in the backcourt.

Instead, they will now have to look to a free agent market that has historically never worked in favor of a relatively small market like Phoenix, Arizona. Admittedly, the likes of Ricky Rubio, Patrick Beverley, Darren Collison or Elfrid Payton may be up for grabs even if they strike out on the Kembas or the D'Angelo Russells of the world, but the likes of Garland/White present a higher upside than any of these 4 players. The Suns continue to be the worst-run organization in the league despite stiff competition from the likes of the Knicks and the Wolves.

#2 Nassir Little

Long projected as a nemesis to the star swingmen from Duke in this rookie class, Nassir Little may have suffered the sharpest drop from pre-draft projections to where he actually landed. The Ringer's draft board had him at #9 on their projections, and he was projected to land as a mid first-round pick at worst.

Landing at Portland after being selected with the #25 pick has to hurt the youngster's pride. At this time last year, Little was the first player since LeBron James to win MVP at both the McDonald's All American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic. It's not like he has much of a hope of getting significant playing time in a lineup that is likely to include Moe Harkless, Al-Farouq Aminu and Rodney Hood playing heavy minutes in a wing role.

At 6'6", 220 pounds, Little looks and defends the part of a dominant swingman in one-on-one situations. He has a lot of catching up to do on team defensive principles at the NBA level, though.

#3 Bol Bol

Another highly recruited rookie from the 2018 high school class, Bol Bol was theoretically the archetype of the modern NBA center who can shoot 3-pointers and still block shots in the paint. Over his season at Oregon with the Ducks, however, he had issues with gaining weight, and despite his superior height and reach he faced trouble competing with centers at the NCAA level.

To top all of that, health concerns regarding whether he had the ability to gain enough pounds to hold his own against the behemoth centers in the NBA caused enough of a negative groupthink about the prospect that he fell all the way to the middle of the 2nd round, even in a historically weak draft class as this.

Unlike Nassir Little, however, Bol Bol hasn't had the track record of a late bloomer. The son of former NBA player Manute Bol, basketball was obviously in his genes. The road to success for him may be much steeper than he thinks today.

#4 Kevin Porter Jr.

The good news for Kevin Porter Jr. is that he is being drafted by an organization that seems to be on the right track as of the moment. The bad news is that the team which traded him to his current situation made the Eastern Conference Finals a few weeks back, and is primed to make about another decade of such playoff runs - and it still had minutes to give for a rookie with his skillset.

Landing in Cleveland will put the onus squarely on the rookie. The Cavs are squarely in the middle of a rebuilding phase, but they don't exactly have the best record for talent development. The outlook for the rookie's development looks slated to be full of challenges, without the presence of a veteran in his position within the locker room.

One would hope that he uses the playing time to the fullest advantage and proves his top-10 pick credentials.

#5 Boston Celtics

Celtics drafted Romeo Langford in the first round

Coming into the 2018-19 season, the picture could not have been rosier for the Celtics. They were the preseason favorites to make the NBA Finals having taken King James' Cavaliers to 7 games in the Conference Finals. They seemingly had an endless store of picks to trade for valuable contributors in the playoffs in addition to an exciting young core led by a championship winning point guard. Scary Terry was a real thing!

Cut to draft day this year, and those picks are still stuck with the Cs in a draft that has few 'sure things' below the #4 slot. Meanwhile, their roster is in a state of virtually irreparable damage as the likes of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford seem poised to move to greener pastures for their own separate reasons, setting the Celtics' championship window a few more years ahead into the future than fans like me had ever envisioned.