2024 NBA Draft winners, losers: Timberwolves aced it, Hawks took risk with top pick
The 2024 NBA Draft was as unpredictable as projected for a class that was considered extremely weak at the top.
There were curious selections and major surprises.
The one thing that went as planned: Bronny James is joining his father, LeBron, in Los Angeles — as long as he re-signs, as expected.
The Post breaks it all down with our winners and losers:
Winners
Timberwolves
Minnesota had the best draft of anyone, adding two of the best offensive players available by picking Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham eighth and Illinois’ Terrence Shannon 27th.
Dillingham will need to improve defensively and the 6-foot-6 Shannon may struggle to defend wings right away, but with the Timberwolves’ roster of defensive stalwarts, they can hide them in spurts.
Both should be able to provide immediate scoring help to boost Minnesota’s second unit.
Shannon, in particular, feels like a find, a three-level scorer who led Illinois to the Big Ten Tournament title and its first Elite Eight appearance in 19 years.
Lakers
One night later, I’m still trying to understand how Dalton Knecht fell all the way out of the lottery to the Lakers at No. 17.
Several teams will regret passing on the sharpshooting wing, who made nearly 40 percent of his 3s at Tennessee and is a better athlete than some give him credit for.
Knecht made tons of sense for the shooting-needy Hornets at No. 6 and a host of others.
Instead, new Lakers coach JJ Redick gets a court-spacer who should be able to provide instant offense.
This was a steal for Los Angeles.
Tyler Kolek
There are athleticism and defensive questions, uncertainty if his game will translate from college to the NBA.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
The same things were said about Jalen Brunson entering the professional ranks, too.
Now Kolek, the dynamic point guard out of Marquette who averaged 15.3 points, 7.7 assists and shot 38.8 percent from 3-point range this past season, gets to play behind and learn from Brunson after the Knicks traded up to the 34th pick to land the southpaw point guard.
It’s a win-win.
Remember, the Knicks have developed second-round picks in recent years, from Mitchell Robinson to Miles McBride, and needed a backup to Brunson.
Coach Tom Thibodeau will love Kolek’s toughness and playmaking.
Big East
For a league that was snubbed with three bids in March’s NCAA Tournament and hasn’t produced a ton of high-level talent in recent years, it was a great two days.
It had three lottery picks — Connecticut duo Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan and Providence guard Devin Carter — for the first time since 2013, and added five more draft picks, with Creighton wing Baylor Scheierman going to the Celtics at No. 30, Marquette’s Kolek and Oso Ighodaro (40th, Suns), and Connecticut guards Tristen Newton (49th, Pacers) and Cam Spencer (53rd, Grizzlies) all getting their names called.
This is big for recruiting, not only for the aforementioned schools, but the rest of the league.
It shows the Big East can send players to the league, which is invaluable in recruiting.
The eight overall selections were the second-most by any conference, behind the Pac-12’s nine.
LeBron and Bronny
Call it nepotism.
Hate on the idea that LeBron James and agent Rich Paul engineered this, that the Lakers had no choice but to select Bronny James 55th overall, and nobody else really had much interest in LeBron’s son, who obviously isn’t ready for the NBA.
It’s still pretty damn cool that the James men will be teammates.
Look, Bronny has a way to go.
He would’ve been better served staying in college for at least another year after an underwhelming one season at USC that included a major health setback.
There is ample development that needs to take place.
He has to get stronger.
But what better way for that to happen than learning from one of the best players to ever play the game?
Losers
Pistons
Who, exactly, is going to shoot the ball for the Pistons?
Detroit made the first surprising selection of the draft by choosing Ron Holland II of G League Ignite fifth overall, a pick that left most experts and analysts scratching their heads.
Holland is a quality athlete who right now is more of a slasher than anything.
But for a team that was 28th in the league in 3-point shooting at 34.8 percent and really needed better spacing, this was a strange choice, particularly after taking a non-shooter in Ausar Thompson fifth overall a year ago.
Hawks
There weren’t great choices at the top of this draft, which lacked franchise-altering prospects.
Scouts and analysts have called it one of the worst in recent history.
There weren’t great options.
Still, French forward Zaccharie Risacher feels like a reach, a 6-9 forward who isn’t a great shooter or defender.
Alex Sarr, who went No. 2, chose not to work out for Atlanta.
I still would’ve taken the 7-footer who, in the least, is an impact defender with his 7-4 wingspan and uber-athleticism.
Bucks
Milwaukee is in win-now mode.
It needs defensive help on the perimeter.
The best defender was there for the Bucks at No. 23, and they passed on Virginia’s Ryan Dunn to take … AJ Johnson?
There is believed to be significant upside on the 19-year-old Johnson, who played in Australia’s NBL, but the 6-5 guard averaged 2.9 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists a season ago.
He’s a project.
They could’ve gotten him in the second round at No. 33, where he was projected to go.
Rockets
For passing on Castle to take Reed Sheppard with the third pick.
Look, Sheppard fits this young roster better because of his shooting and playmaking ability.
But Castle has the significantly higher ceiling.
I think he has a chance to wind up as the best player in this draft.
Even if his 3-point shot doesn’t progress, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t, he has a bright future as a lockdown defender who can impact the game without being a big-time scorer.
One scout sees Andre Iguodola in the 6-6 Castle.
Houston will regret this down the road.
Kyle Filipowski
You had to feel for the Duke 7-footer.
Not only did he not get selected in the first round after being projected to go anywhere from the late teens to the mid-20s, not only did he have to wait overnight now that the draft was extended to two days, but after getting picked by the Jazz with the second pick of the second round, personal information was spread on social media.
His family began posting on X that his considerably older girlfriend has allegedly groomed him into Mormon culture and cut him off from them.
A forgettable draft experience.
