The Athletic’s 2019 NBA Mock Draft, Version 3.0 is here. For reference, we’re post-early entry deadline, pre-NBA Draft Lottery, and pre-NBA Draft Combine. This will be the last mock draft before those two events. Consider it something of a table-setter entering the madness of the pre-draft process. NBA teams have general thoughts on players entering the proceedings, but that will assuredly change as they start to meet with players and have them in for workouts. This year particularly, I would expect the pre-draft process to play an outsized role in the proceedings. Why? Well, I’ll start with a story.



Earlier this month, I was in a car with three NBA executives who work for the same team. I mentioned that, on the whole, I didn’t think this draft class stacked up to the recent ones that have infused the NBA with such an interesting, diverse array of NBA talents. The highest ranking executive in the car relayed something to me that he said he learned a...