With NBA draft week officially underway, mock drafts are heating up with different projections for Thursday’s first round.
While Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson and Brandon Miller are all locked in for the first three picks. there’s still mystery surrounding what Mike Dunleavy Jr. will do at No. 19 in his first draft as general manager of the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors will have the chance to select another young prospect to slide in along their core with Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Jordan Poole.
With the No. 19 pick in ESPN’s latest mock draft, Jonathan Givony inked Santa Clara’s Bradin Podziemski to the Warriors. According to Givony, Podziemski has an “intriguing combination of toughness, shooting and passing ability.”
Via ESPN:
Rival teams have pointed to the likes of Podziemski, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kris Murray — who bring varying degrees of skill, feel, shooting and two-way versatility, as the type of players the Warriors could target instead. Podziemski, an analytics-model favorite, has helped himself in the pre-draft process with the intriguing combination of toughness, shooting and passing ability he has demonstrated in workouts, helping him climb solidly into the first round.
Read Givony’s full mock draft via ESPN here.
After transferring from Illinois, Podziemski broke out with Santa Clara in the WCC, averaging 19.9 points on 48.3% shooting from the field with 8.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals in 32 games.
Podziemski notched 30 or more points four times in his sophomore season at Santa Clara, scoring a career-high 38 points with six made 3-pointers in a loss to Pacific in January.
The NBA draft is set for Thursday at 5 p.m. PT from Brooklyn, New York.
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