With a new month comes another angle on the 2019 NBA Draft, including the Atlanta Hawks trading down with their 10th overall pick, and the Los Angeles Lakers completing an Anthony Davis trade with their 4th overall pick.
The Atlanta Hawks fell in the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery, but this draft still marks a major turning point for the team’s fortunes going forward in its rebuild. With a strong young core in place of Trae Young, John Collins, Kevin Huerter and ostensibly Omari Spellman, Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk has a lot of decisions to make come draft day.
The first decision that we make for him in this mock draft is trading down with the 10th overall pick with the Boston Celtics.
Here’s the trade scenario:
In a watered-down 2019 NBA Draft, giving up the 10th overall pick to the Boston Celtics allows the Hawks to nab two later first-rounders from Danny Ainge. The Atlanta Hawks’ 10th pick serves as a substitute for the Grizzlies pick that Boston lost due to Memphis moving up 6 spots to 2nd overall.
Why are these Boston picks on the table, you ask? Well, because in more seismic news (in this hypothetical draft situation at least), the Los Angeles Lakers traded away the 4th overall pick and much of its young core for Anthony Davis – more on that later.
So read on to explore this wacky 2019 NBA Draft mock-up, which includes the trades previously mentioned.