WELCOME TO DRAFT DAY! Today is a fantastic day, I’m on a little stay-cation, its my wife’s birthday, I’ve got my iced Dunkins coffee, hitting up our favorite steak joint for dinner, and oh yeah, the NBA draft is tonight. My absolute favorite event. I love team building. My favorite part of my job as a college coach was recruiting and trying to figure out, project what our roster would look like. If I could have any job in the world, it’d be as an NBA General Manager

I was trying to finalize this as close as I could to the draft, and so I’ve waited until this morning to get this published. In favor of not angering my wife on her birthday, I will be going dark come draft time. No phone, no internet, nada. Recording the draft, and I’ll watch it, in its entirety either late tonight, or early tomorrow (lets not kid ourselves, I won’t be able to sleep knowing that is waiting for me), it’ll be the greatest sacrifice I’ve made in almost 5 years of marriage.

So before we get to close to zero dark thirty, lets get this published. If you’ve been paying attention, I put forth our Vanilla Mock Draft, sort of our bland version 1.0, which you can still see here: 2018 NBA MOCK DRAFT VANILLA VERSION about a week and a half ago.

In this version, we’re also going to be daring, we’re projecting some trades. And rather than just throw random trades on here without explanation, we’re applying all the trades put forth in our LETS MAKE A DEAL article from earlier this week, so make sure you take a peak at that (lets be honest, you should be reading all these articles, because they’re awesome).

Before I get into giving you the picks, let me say this about tonight. This is a GREAT draft. I wouldn’t be shocked that when all these guys 20 years from now are looking back at this draft, if there were 12-14 all stars. I think there are legit 8 “face of the franchise” type guys to be had, and I think there are rotation contributors well into the 2nd round. Some years there is no consensus #1 guy because no one seems worthy, I think this year this issue is that there are too many worthy candidates.

All that being said, lets get into it, LETS GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!!!!!!!

1. TRADE: DeAndre Ayton – San Antonio Spurs – Post – Bear Down
2. Marvin Bagley III – Sacramento Kings – Post – Duke
3. Luka Doncic – Atlanta Hawks – Wing – Real Madrid (Slovenia)
4. TRADE: Jaren Jackson Jr. – Phoenix Suns – Post – Michigan State
5. Mo Bamba – Dallas Mavericks – Post – Hook ’em Horns
6. Michael Porter Jr. – Orlando Magic – Wing – Missouri
7. Wendell Carter – Chicago Bulls – Post – Duke
8. TRADE: Shai Gilgeous Alexander – Toronto Raptors – Combo Guard – Kentucky 
9. Kevin Knox – New York Knicks – Wing – Kentucky
10. Trae Young – Philadelphia 76ers – Ball Handler – Oklahoma
11. Collin Sexton – Charlotte Hornets – Ball Handler – Roll Tide
12. TRADE: Robert Williams III – Boston Celtics – Post – Texas A&M
13. Lonnie Walker IV – Los Angeles Clippers – Wing – Miami
14. TRADE: Mikel Bridges – Atlanta Hawks – Wing – Villanova
15. TRADE: Zhaire Smith – Dallas Mavericks – Wing – Texas Tech
16. TRADE: Miles Bridges – Memphis Grizzlies – Wing/Post – Michigan State 
17. Jerome Robinson – Milwaukee Bucks – Wing – Boston College
18. TRADE: Donte DeVincenzo – Phoenix Suns – Combo Guard – Villanova
19. TRADE: Troy Brown – Denver Nuggets – Wing – Quack Quack U
20. Grayson Allen – Minnesota Timberwolves – Combo Guard – Duke
21. Josh Okogie – Utah Jazz – Wing – Georgia On My Mind Tech
22. Chandler Hutchinson – Chicago Bulls – Wing – Boise State
23. Aaron Holiday – Indiana Pacers – Ball Handler – University of Twink aka UCLA
24. Jacob Evans – Portland Trailblazers – Wing – Cincinnati 
25. Dzanan Musa – Los Angeles Lakers – Wing – Cedevita (Bosnia)
26. Kevin Huerter – Philadelphia 76ers – Wing – Maryland
27. TRADE: Mitchell Robinson – Los Angles Clippers – Post – Western Kentucky, Kinda
28. Kostas Antetokounmpo – Golden State Warriors – Wing – Dayton
29. Keita Bates-Diop – Brooklyn Nets – Wing – University of Suck-Eyes
30. Mortriz Wagner – Atlanta Hawks – Post – Michigan

And just a reminder, if I get the player’s draft slot correct, but not the team (missed a trade, or incorrectly projected a trade), I take credit. If I get the player’s team right, but not the draft slot, I take credit. If one of my friends correctly projected a pick in a dream he had 2 years ago, I take credit. If I get this wrong, we completely ignore this and never speak of this again. Thems da rulz.

• By Jason Sullivan
• Find us on Twitter at @TopDucker or on Facebook at You’re Ducking Right