On June 22, the NBA will hold its annual draft, pulling from an incredible domestic and global talent pool. As prospects continue to play, how do they rank as potential draft prospects?

While six Sports Business Classroom alumni used their collective scouting insight to build out an initial pre-lottery Mock Draft 5.0, Antonio Suman took a different approach via machine learning.

Per Suman, his AI-generated NBA mock uses an ANN (Artificial Neural Network) to parse through the stats of college players from the last five drafts. “The code learns, from those stats, how teams drafted over the last five years.”

Based on the stats of the players in the draft pool, it generates the results for a first-round mock:

A previous version was run before the May 16 draft lottery, but the order shifted with the San Antonio Spurs jumping to No. 1 overall. Additionally, several players withdrew from the draft pool. The following is the AI-generated list based on the final order and list of prospects:

  Team Player Position Age* Frame Pre-NBA
1 San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama Center 19 7’4″, 210 lbs Metropolitans 92
2 Charlotte Hornets Brandon Miller Forward 20 6’9″, 200 lbs Alabama
3 Portland Trail Blazers Scoot Henderson Guard 19 6’2″, 195 lbs G League Ignite
4 Houston Rockets Amen Thompson Guard 20 6’7″, 200 lbs Overtime Elite
5 Detroit Pistons Jarace Walker Forward 19 6’8″, 235 lbs Houston
6 Orlando Magic Taylor Hendricks Forward 19 6’9″, 210 lbs Central Florida
7 Indiana Pacers Cam Whitmore Forward 18 6’8″, 230 lbs Villanova
8 Washington Wizards Anthony Black Guard 19 6’7″, 200 lbs Arkansas
9 Utah Jazz Bilal Coulibaly Forward 18 6’6″, 230 lbs Boulogne-Levallois
10 Dallas Mavericks Leonard Miller Forward 19 6’10”, 211 lbs G League Ignite
11 Orlando Magic Maxwell Lewis Forward 20 6’7″, 195 lbs Pepperdine
12 Oklahoma City Thunder Gradey Dick Wing 19 6’8″, 205 lbs Kansas
13 Toronto Raptors Cason Wallace Guard 19 6’4″, 195 lbs Kentucky
14 New Orleans Pelicans Ausar Thompson Wing 20 6’7″, 205 lbs Overtime Elite
15 Atlanta Hawks Keyonte George Guard 19 6’4″, 185 lbs Baylor
16 Utah Jazz Noah Clowney Forward 18 6’10”, 210 lbs Alabama
17 Los Angeles Lakers Jordan Hawkins Guard 20 6’5″, 195 lbs Connecticut
18 Miami Heat Kobe Bufkin Guard 19 6’4″, 175 lbs Michigan
19 Golden State Warriors Nick Smith Jr. Guard 18 6’5″, 185 lbs Arkansas
20 Houston Rockets Gregory “GG” Jackson II Forward 18 6’9″, 210 lbs South Carolina
21 Brooklyn Nets Sidy Cissoko Forward 18 6’7″, 200 lbs G League Ignite
22 Brooklyn Nets Rayan Rupert Wing 18 6’6″, 190 lbs Breakers (NBL)
23 Portland Trail Blazers Kris Murray Forward 22 6’8″, 220 lbs Iowa
24 Sacramento Kings Jett Howard Wing 19 6’8″, 215 lbs Michigan
25 Memphis Grizzlies Colby Jones Guard 20 6’6″, 205 lbs Xavier
26 Indiana Pacers Brandin Podziemski Guard 20 6’5″, 200 lbs Santa Clara
27 Charlotte Hornets Brice Sensabaugh Forward 19 6’6″, 225 lbs Ohio State
28 Utah Jazz Jalen Hood-Schifino Guard 19 6’6″, 215 lbs Indiana
29 Indiana Pacers Dereck Lively II Center 19 7’1″, 230 lbs Duke
30 LA Clippers Dariq Whitehead Forward 18 6’7″, 220 lbs Duke

* Age as of the draft.

(Updated on 6/19/23)