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: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.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.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’...