NBA Draft Order 2015: And The First Pick Of The 2015 NBA Draft Goes To…
NBA Draft order revelations were made Tuesday night (May 19) at the league lottery. The first pick in the 2015 NBA Draft order belongs to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The second pick goes to the Los Angeles Lakers and the third pick will be made by the Philadelphia 76ers. This is the second time that the Wolves will make the first overall selection, and the team came into the lottery as the most likely team to receive that honor. As for the New York Knicks, they fell to the No. 4 slot.
As reported by CBS Sports, the rest of the top 10 picks (in order) are the Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, and Miami Heat. It’s quite remarkable how many teams that were successful in the 2014 NBA Playoffs found a way to drop into the lottery this year. That also includes the Indiana Pacers (No. 12) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (No. 14) a bit further down in the first-round selections. Adding great prospects to the Knicks and Lakers could make things very interesting when the next NBA season begins.
An NBA mock draft from Sports Illustrated predicted that center Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky would go first overall, and that Duke center Jahlil Okafor would be the second overall selection. The rest of the top five selections are predicted to be point guard Emmanuel Mudiay of China, Duke forward Justise Winslow, and forward Kristaps Porzingis from Latvia.
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As previously reported on the Inquisitr, Andrew Wiggins was the first selection of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a deal that brought Kevin Love back to the Cavs. Wiggins will now have another high pick to play within the 2015-16 NBA season and the front office has a while to figure out whether it would be Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns that works best with him. The other player will be going to the Los Angeles Lakers with the second overall selection, leaving the New York Knicks and fans of the struggling franchise to settle for what’s left at No. 4.
Minnesota Timberwolves general manager Milt Newton has a lot to celebrate, and likewise fans will be back on board with a team that has lived in the lottery recently. Getting the first overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft order gives the team a lot of flexibility and guarantees that they will get one of the two top prospects coming out of college. It’s hard to go wrong with either Okafor or Towns in the low post, and it could enable the Wolves to trade away some of their other big men. Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio also has to be pleased that he is about to have another great weapon on offense to work with.
Though the NBA Draft order did a bit of shifting on May 19, it could still shift some more during the offseason. Teams will have the chance to start trading picks after the playoffs come to a close and there could be a big market developing.
[Image Source: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images]
