With the return of the college basketball, the 2019 NBA Draft season tilts into full swing. With that comes another year of covering the NBA Draft at The Athletic.



To do that, we have to start somewhere. That’s what this is. It’s our preseason look at what will come over the next eight months, as college and international players born in 1997 or later jockey for position in the draft. This is my first edition of The Athletic’s 2019 NBA Draft Big Board, which will be updated throughout the season.



It’s worth noting that the overall talent level in the 2019 draft is expected to be a bit lower than the ’17 and ’18 drafts. Having said that, it’s also expected to be considerably stronger than the 2020 draft, which is tracking to be among the worst we’ve seen in the last two decades. Overall, I’d call it a slightly below average draft at this stage of the process.



Below the Big Board you’ll...