The 2024 NBA Draft will be held on Wednesday, June 26th and Thursday, June 27th. With just three weeks to go, it seems like a good time to discuss some draft prospects. Our resident draft expert Bryant has semi-retired from draft scouting, so we won’t have his usual in-depth breakdowns to rely on. So we’re going to do our draft coverage a little differently this year. We’ll present some prospects, share some highlight videos, and share some general thoughts before opening it up to the group. We start with one of my personal favorites, Colorado’s Tristan da Silva.
NBA Position: Wing
General Info: 23-year-old Senior, played at Colorado. From Munich, Germany.
Measurables: 6’8.75″ w/o shoes, 216.8 lbs, reported 6’10.25″ wingspan.
2023-2024 Season Statistics: 16.0PPG, 5.1 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 1.8 TPG (34 games played, 33.8 minutes per game), 49.3% FG, 39.5% 3P, 83.5% FT
Tristan Da Silva first caught my eye through the most unscientific method possible. Following the draft lottery, I pulled up a couple mock drafts and looked for players with wing size, who were projected to go 10th or later, and shot the 3 at a decent clip. It was simple filtering based on what I want the Kings to add, namely wing depth that fits the team philosophy. And yet, from that simple analysis came a draft crush that I actually believe in. I watched some highlights, and I think that not only would da Silva be a good fit for the Kings, I think he’s also a stereotypical Monte McNair pick. He’s an older player, more developed, more of a finished product. He shoots, he cuts, he hits threes, but he also gets assists, blocks, and steals. He’s an but not great defender. I don’t know if da Silva has a higher upside he could continue to grow into, but I feel pretty comfortable predicting that he’ll be a useful NBA player for a long time, and would instantly improve Sacramento’s depth.
Most mock drafts have da Silva going several picks later than 13th. Our friend Brett Huff’s Consensus Big Board (which compiles all the mock drafts out there to give us an average placement among the experts) currently has da Silva slotted 18th, so 13th would be considered a bit of a reach. But in this year’s draft I wouldn’t be shocked by several so-called reaches due to the more level playing field. Most mock drafts, especially with the draft still 3 weeks away, aren’t heavily based on intel from teams. Da Silva’s lack of upside means most experts are going to be hesitant to project him as a lotto pick.
