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It's already being dubbed one of the best drafts this century and one of the best point guard draft classes of all time and it's only been 8 years. The 2018 NBA draft had everything. MVPs, champions, all NBA players, defensive player of the years, and even busts. And maybe the craziest part, all 14 of the top 14 picks from this class are no longer with the team that drafted them. So now, 8 years later, how would the lottery look if we redrafted every single pick right now? Let's find out. We start at first overall, the Phoenix Suns famously took Deandre Ayton.
Listen, he was a beast in college, I get it, but there's an MVP that was in this draft class and his name is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The 11th pick moves up to the first pick and forms a crazy backcourt alongside Devin Booker. At pick number two, it was the Sacramento Kings taking Marvin Bagley with the third. Safe to say, that didn't pan out because there was another guy who's also in the MVP conversation this year that should go there and that is Luka Dončić. GM Vlade Divac got on a podcast just this week and said he didn't want to take him because they already had De'Aaron Fox. No disrespect to De'Aaron Fox, but Luka Dončić has to be the pick.
He's headed to Sacramento at two. On to pick three where Luka Dončić went, technically, this isn't an Atlanta Hawks draft pick, so that's who's going to be picking this time around. No Luka Dončić available, no problem. I'm going with Jalen Brunson, the 33rd pick of this class who has received MVP votes in each of the last three years. The third all NBA point guard to go off the list here, Jalen Brunson is a Hawk. Fourth overall to the Memphis Grizzlies, the pick was Jaren Jackson Jr. They weren't really that far off and you could definitely argue that he should still be going here, but in a redraft, I think I have to go with the fourth straight point guard, three-time All-Star Trae Young.
Trae was a killer for a long time. This would also save the Grizzlies from drafting Ja Morant the next year, who I think is the lesser player to Trae Young. I've got Trae Young going to Memphis. And to round out the top five, it's the Dallas Mavericks, the team that might get shafted the most with a redraft because, don't forget, they had Luka Dončić and Jalen Brunson coming out of this draft class. Now, none of those guys are available. I've got them going with Jaren Jackson Jr. He's still a defensive player of the year, he's a two-time All-Star, and this was a team that rolled out Deandre Jordan at center and a Harrison Barnes at power forward.
I don't think that they'll hate getting Jaren Jackson Jr. Moving on to our next five picks and we start with the Orlando Magic picking sixth. Say what you want about Marvin Bagley, but he wasn't as big of a bust as Mo Bamba was. Mo Bamba didn't average double-digit points until his fourth year in the league. He didn't have more than eight rebounds a game until that year as well. At least Marvin Bagley, you know, averaged 14 points here and there throughout his career. This time around, I've got the Magic going with Michael Porter Jr., who was actually the number one recruit in this high school class. He was projected to go first overall until his back surgeries, but he's turning in an All-Star-esque season now. I think the
Magic will be much happier with MPJ than Mo Bamba. Seventh overall to the Chicago Bulls, they took Wendell Carter Jr. Not a bad player, but there's a bit of an upgrade and it's the guy who went first overall in this class, Deandre Ayton. Maybe he hasn't lived up to the hype as a number one pick. Yes, there's some guys in this class that are better than him, but he averaged 14 and 10 for the first seven years of his career until he got to the Lakers. This is still a very, very good NBA center. I think the Chicago Bulls would benefit a lot from taking Ayton over Carter. On to pick eight, it's the Cleveland Cavaliers, they took Collin Sexton. I'm not taking Collin Sexton, I'm going with Miles
Bridges. Listen, this team, they kind of shafted themselves by taking Sexton and Garland very shortly after. Clogged their backcourt, they ended up having to move one of them out very early and it was Sexton. They would benefit a lot more from some small forward scoring that comes in the form of Miles Bridges. He's averaged 20 points a game three different times already in his career and he's been a big part of this Charlotte Hornets turnaround. The Cavs take Bridges at eight. Ninth overall to the Knicks, I'm sure every Knicks fan knows who they took at this point. In a class as loaded as this one, they go with Kevin Knox, who quickly became a big-time bust, especially after Julius
Randle and RJ Barrett came in. So this time around in the redraft, I'm actually going to give them a player that they have on the team now, Mikal Bridges. I mean, talk about a guy who has never missed a game in his NBA career. He's been to the finals, he's a great two-way player. The Knicks get Mikal Bridges at nine. And to cap off this top 10, it's the Sixers who initially took Bridges. He's not on the board anymore, so I'm going to go with his college teammate, Donte DiVincenzo. Shaky start to his career with the Bucks, but ever since he went back to the Knicks and joined all of his Villanova buddies, now on the
Timberwolves, he has absolutely blossomed again. One of the best three-point assassins in the game right now. Which brings us into the final four picks of this lottery and at 11th overall, where Shai initially went to the Charlotte Hornets and then traded to the Clippers, I've got Collin Sexton being drafted. Say what you want about Collin Sexton, but the guy averaged 24 points a game five years ago. That just speaks to how deep this class really is. Sexton goes to Charlotte. On to pick 12, it's the LA Clippers who actually had back-to-back picks in this lottery. They took Miles Bridges initially and shopped him around. This time, he's not on the board, so I'm going with another
microwave score, Anfernee Simons. The guy does have two 20-point per game seasons under his belt. Again, this just speaks to the depth of scoring in this draft class. Back to the Clippers at pick 13 and all due respect to Jerome Robinson, but the first time around, they took the worst player in this lottery, hands down. The guy never averaged more than five points a game in a single season. This time around, I've got them going with another shooter, Grayson Allen. Four-year guy at Duke, national champion in college, one of the most hated college players of all time. He's completely rejuvenated his career and has become arguably the best three-point shooter that the league has
to offer right now. He's headed to LA. And to finish up this lottery is the Denver Nuggets picking at pick 14. Listen, Wendell Carter is a very good player. He probably, skill-wise, should go in this draft, but the last three picks have been the Clippers twice, who had Ivica Zubac and Montrezl Harrell, and the Denver Nuggets, who obviously have Nikola Jokić. Positionally, I don't think he's a great fit on either team. So to end this thing off, I'm going with Bruce Brown going to Denver to start his career there as opposed to being traded there later. He's won a championship, he's been an awesome sixth man with that team. Bruce Brown starts his career as a Denver Nugget. There we have it, the
full redraft of all 14 lottery picks from the 2018 NBA draft. And that's without mentioning guys like Kevin Huerter, Gary Trent, Robert Williams, Landry Shamet, Mitchell Robinson. It really goes to show how deep this class was. The only question is, did I get it right or would you have this draft unfold differently? Let me know in the comments and we'll see you in the next one.
