For a class that hasn’t generated much excitement, the 2024 NBA Draft has certainly produced plenty of interesting moments. There was Isaiah Collier falling to the bottom of the first round against the Utah Jazz, the Timberwolves making a bold trade to move into the top 10, the Pistons opting for a best player available strategy despite obvious problems of adjustment, and the Thunder who obtained our first overall prospect with the 12th pick.
Beauty was truly in the eye of the beholder in this class with a distinct lack of consensus in terms of how teams evaluated top players. It will be a few years before we really know which teams made the best and worst picks, but some teams should feel better than others right now.
We’ve already evaluated every first-round pick. Now let’s move on to the list of winners and losers of the 2024 NBA draft.
Winner: Nuggets
DaRon Holmes was one of the most dominant players in college basketball last season for Dayton, but his transition to the NBA sparked legitimate questions about his fitness. Holmes was going to be a little small for a center with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, and he didn’t seem like a natural volume shooter as a potential four. It’s hard to imagine a better player than the Nuggets.
Denver traded up to No. 22 to select Holmes, and he was one of the top picks in the first round. Holmes immediately adds a new dimension to the Nuggets’ front line with his positional versatility, power and developing skill set. Whether he’s playing with Nikola Jokic or backing him up, he’s a natural fit for Denver’s style of play on both ends of the floor.
Holmes made big improvements as a ball handler and shooter as a junior with the Flyers after primarily being a traditional rim runner/rim protector his first two years. His development as an offensive player allows him to play on the perimeter without sacrificing his physicality inside. I can see a version of his game that somewhat resembles current Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon: able to body people at the rim and on the glass while being just good enough as a shooter to space the floor. He’s going to be very good finishing off Jokic’s plays, and he can help keep the Nuggets’ bench units afloat down the road when Jokic is resting. This is a wonderful marriage between player and team, and a big boon for the Nuggets’ long-term depth.
Winner: Thunder
I ranked Nikola Topic as the best player in the class on my 2024 NBA Draft board. The Thunder must be winning for selecting him with the 12th pick.
Topic tore his ACL late this season. My biggest concern was that a team would try to rush him back next season, but Thunder executive Sam Presti has already said he likely won’t play in the 2024-25 campaign. A patient approach is the best bet for Topic, as his game relies heavily on his dynamic ball-handler.
Topic has very good positional size for a point guard at 6’6, a blazing first step and a soft touch as a finisher around the rim. He knows how to read a defense in the pick-and-roll as a scorer and playmaker. On a team full of OKC stars, Topic can be slotted into the rotation as a backup and is not expected to what he carries the franchise on his shoulders. At only 18 years old, I think Topic has the potential to become one of the best players in this class in five or six years. The Thunder will put him in a position to get there without putting too much pressure on him.
Winner: Pistons
Holland was a standout in this class for me. On paper, he didn’t seem like a good fit for the Pistons due to his lack of shooting ability on a team already loaded with non-shooters, but new manager Trajan Langdon understands something important about building a team: You recruit for talent (especially in the top five), and you trade and sign free agents for fit.
Holland possesses an unrivaled defensive engine, elite athleticism, shooting and scoring abilities in transition. If you want to be a bad shooter in today’s NBA, you have to be good at everything else. I think Holland can fill this role long term. Keep in mind that he is only 18 years old.
How does Holland play alongside Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren? It certainly seems like Detroit won’t get enough shooting with this core, but remember, Langdon isn’t tied to anyone but Holland as the new leader of the Pistons’ front office. Detroit is well-positioned to leverage its old core in player trades and future picks. This won’t be a quick rebuild for the Pistons, but of course, that won’t happen after a 14-win season. Going with BPA was a smart move, and Holland was a smart move.
Winner: Rockets
The Rockets made the right choice in selecting Reed Sheppard at No. 3. It’s a perfect spot for the Kentucky guard: He can provide shooting and defensive play while the rest of Houston’s roster masks his limitations in size and athleticism.
The Rockets have some powerful athletes on the roster in Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Cam Whitmore. They didn’t shoot much. Sheppard is a knockout shooter who made 52 percent of his threes at Kentucky. He just knows how to pick his spots on and off the ball, and his presence will immediately help balance the floor around Alperen Sengun.
Sheppard was a prodigy with advanced stats, but I was worried he would be put in a bad situation where he would be asked to create offense off the dribble alone. That’s not going to happen in Houston on a team that already has so many weapons. What a great combination for both player and team.
Winner: Rob Dillingham
Dillingham was one of the best creators in this draft class, a super shifty playmaker who can shoot from anywhere, drop plays with terrific vision, and stress defenses on or off the ball. Dillingham is just extremely small at 6’1, 165 pounds, and because of that, he’s a bad defender.
Well, Dillingham somehow landed on the NBA’s best defensive team thanks to a shocking trade on draft night. The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired the Spurs’ 8th overall pick to select Dillingham for a swap of a 2030 pick and an unprotected 2031 pick. It’s an incredibly risky trade by Minnesota that could be painful in the long run, but it gives the team some much-needed shooting and playmaking, as well as a young point guard to groom behind Mike Conley.
I love the gamble. Minnesota’s offense got bogged down in the halfcourt too often last year. Dillingham’s game is volatile because he’s so small and can commit bad turnovers and fouls, but when he’s at his best, he’s so dynamic offensively. Surrounded by Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert, Dillingham should be able to play to his strengths without worrying about his weaknesses.
Loser: Bucks
I tried not to bash teams for their picks in my draft grades because it was such a weak class that I could see the vision on most of the selections. I had to put that logic on pause, however, when the Bucks took AJ Johnson at 23rd overall.
The Bucks need to win now around Giannis and Damian Lillard. Johnson couldn’t contribute in Australia as a 19-year-old last season, and he won’t contribute in the NBA in the short term either. Johnson’s size, ball-handling, and playmaking skills could make him an effective NBA guard down the line, but he simply doesn’t fit Milwaukee’s window. For a team like the Bucks with limited assets for the future, this seems like a wasteful pick.
Loser: The Falcons
It’s possible that Zacharie Risacher could be a very good 3-and-D style winger in the NBA. For that to happen, he’s going to have to shoot it at an elite level and at high volume. It’s true that every team in the league wants big wings who can shoot and defend, and Risacher has been quite productive in an important role from a young age in France’s top professional league.
He looks nothing like a typical No. 1 pick due to his lack of shot creation, elite athleticism, and ability to get the better of opponents. It seems unlikely to me that Risacher will be considered the best player in this class in 10 years, and that suggests the Hawks will get a bad rap with this selection.
There was no obvious No. 1 pick in this class. Risacher has a higher level of play than Alex Sarr, and arguably he has a higher level of play than centers who only cover the drop like Donovan Clingan. It’s like trying to hit a double at bat when the Hawks desperately needed a home run to change their long-term destiny.
Loser: NBA GMs for letting Isaiah Collier go
I thought the Jazz should take USC point guard Isaiah Collier at 10th overall. Placing him at 29th is an incredible move.
Collier felt like an overrated prospect going into the season when he was projected to be a top-5 pick. After struggling mightily early in the year, he was excellent for the final six weeks and finally started to look like a legitimate lottery talent again. NBA teams seemingly never caught up, as one of the best bets on shot creation in this class nearly fell in the first round.
Collier is so fast, so strong, and so shifty as a lead ball handler. He has great vision and can get to the foul line at will. Getting that type of talent at No. 29 is crazy value for Utah, and every other team will be kicking themselves if he ever reaches his long-term ceiling.