NBA Draft winners and losers

The 2021 NBA Draft is over, and boy, did it deliver.

While the top three picks went as expected, there was plenty of chaos and movement the rest of the evening. It would be easy to lose the plot on what exactly it all means for the NBA going forward, which is why I’m going to take you through the biggest winners and losers of the NBA Draft.

Winner: Detroit Pistons fans

There was a lot of smoke in the weeks leading up to the Draft, about the possibility that Cade Cunningham might not be the Pistons' guy at No. 1. It wasn’t until mere hours before the Draft that Adrian Wojnarowski reported Detroit had settled Cunningham.

Cunningham has made it clear that he wants to be in Detroit, and he was the best prospect available. He is an incredible shooter, playmaker, and takes pride on the defensive end, a rarity for top prospects.

Pistons fans are going to love him.

Loser: San Antonio Spurs

Canadian shooting guard Josh Primo was one of the biggest risers in the private-workout process, which is a red flag.

Prioritizing workouts and limited scrimmages over college or pro film is a foolhardy exercise. Primo was the youngest player in the Draft, averaged eight points per game as a freshman at Alabama, and had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. He has not shown much that made him worthy of a lottery pick (let alone a first-round pick). 

That the Spurs picked a shooting guard with the roster they currently have, full of young guards and wings, is also puzzling.

And top it all off, a player regularly mocked to them, international prospect Alperen Sengun, was available and would fit a long-term need on the roster, with serious upside.

Winner: Houston Rockets

The Rockets are in a full rebuild, but if last night was any indication, it will be a short one.

They took Jalen Green with the second pick, as was expected for weeks. Green has incredible upside and is athletically comparable to Zach LaVine, but he is much further along in his skill development at the same age. He averaged better than 60% true shooting against lower-than-average NBA spacing for the G League Ignite and has as high an upside as any player in the draft.

The Rockets also traded with the Thunder to snag Sengun with the 16th pick. Sengun just turned 19 and is coming off an MVP season in top division of Turkish pro basketball. He has incredible touch and post skills and looks like he will be able to stretch the floor in time. Analytics models love him, and as a pick outside the lottery, he was an incredible value.

And the Rockets weren’t finished there. They also snagged Usman Garuba of Spain at No. 23, who might be the most versatile defender in the NBA one day.

Not only did the Rockets pick players with NBA-ready skills, they also have a roster with great synergistic properties.

The Rockets have retooled around three of the most intriguing prospects in the Draft. They deserve nothing but praise for this level of craft.

Loser: Golden State Warriors

The Warriors took Jonathan Kuminga at No. 7, which came as a shock. The Warriors are the definition of a win-now team. Stephen Curry showed last season that he is still an MVP caliber talent, but time is running short.

And now they have two project players on their roster, who will make them measurably wors. James Wiseman and Kuminga will be unplayable as a tandem and might cost the Warriors a playoff berth.

The Warriors were in trade negotiations right up until they made the pick, and the play here is clearly to use Kuminga as the most appealing trade bait for a later move. But if they enter the season with both Kuminga and Wiseman, Golden State will have repeated the same mistakes from last season.

Winner: The NBA

The moment of the night belonged to Terrence Clarke’s family.

Clarke played at Kentucky and was a sure bet to be taken in the 2021 Draft but was tragically killed in a car accident earlier this year.

Adam Silver took time in the middle of the proceedings to pay tribute to his family and bestow an honorary posthumous induction to the NBA upon Clarke.

It was a difficult, moving moment and the most meaningful thing that happened last night. Hats off to the NBA for doing the right thing.

Loser: Sacramento Kings

The Kings took Baylor guard Davion Mitchell at No. 9.

Mitchell impressed the nation when he and backcourt teammate Jared Butler dominated undefeated Gonzaga in the NCAA National Championship Game.

While he was mocked pretty highly on some boards, Mitchell was one of the biggest losers of the combine process, where he was measured at 6'0", significantly lower than his listed height at Baylor.

Reports came out quickly that the Kings think Mitchell can play alongside Tyrese Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox, because “he can guard four positions”. At that height, Mitchell will be lucky to guard more than one at the NBA level. He'll also be 23 for his rookie NBA season, which doesn’t make you feel better about his long-term impact for the Kings.

Playing Fox, Haliburton, and Mitchell together is just not tenable defensively, and for a team that has been among the worst in the NBA on that side of the court for years, that's a tough pill to swallow.