News/Commentary

Risacher Betting Favorite To Go First In NBA Draft

June 24, 2024 by Staff

The NBA Draft gets underway this Wednesday, June 26 at 8 p.m. ET with TV coverage beginning at 7:30 pm. You can see all the picks live on Wednesday night on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+. The second round begins at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN. Since 1989, the NBA Draft has had just two rounds and is also limited to 60 players. This year, only 58 will be selected as Philadelphia and Phoenix were punished with the forfeiture of their picks for tampering. Effectively, they contacted players outside of the restricted period.

The public relations arm of the NBA posted on "X" this morning that at least 10 international players have been selected every year since 2000. They also noted that, in each of the last 11 years, two or more international players have been picked in the top 10.

While scouring the latest odds at FanDuel.com this morning, we found that France's Zaccharie Risacher was listed with the best odds (-240) of going No. 1 in the draft to the Atlanta Hawks, while also discovering that Kansas is now even with UConn (+1000) for best odds of winning the 2024-25 NCAA Championship.

Solidifying its role as the number one betting destination in the U.S., FanDuel.com had a 44% market share as of last October and 48% gross gaming revenue, according to an article at YahooSports. The U.K.-based company offers odds and betting (where legal) on every sport imaginable, including the NBA Draft and college basketball.

Going back to the draft, NBA.com has released the latest consensus mock draft which also has Risacher going first, while another French player, Alexandre Sarr, is picked to go second to the Washington Wizards. There has never been an instance of consecutive years when a player who did not play at a U.S. college was selected first overall in the Draft. Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 pick a year ago.

Reed Sheppard is No. 3 on the majority of lists that were sampled and would be the first U.S. collegiate player (Kentucky) to be taken in this year's draft.

Also high on the list as consensus picks are a pair of UConn players with guard Stephen Castle at No. 4 to San Antonio and 7'2" center Donovan Clingan at No. 6 to Charlotte.

Here is the order for all 58 picks (assuming no late swaps).

First Round

1. Atlanta
2. Washington
3. Houston (from Brooklyn)
4. San Antonio
5. Detroit
6. Charlotte
7. Portland
8. San Antonio (from Toronto)
9. Memphis
10. Utah
11. Chicago
12. Oklahoma City (from Houston)
13. Sacramento
14. Portland (from Golden State via Boston and Memphis)
15. Miami
16. Philadelphia
17. Los Angeles Lakers
18. Orlando
19. Toronto (from Indiana)
20. Cleveland
21. New Orleans (from Milwaukee)
22. Phoenix
23. Milwaukee (from New Orleans)
24. New York (from Dallas)
25. New York
26. Washington (from LA Clippers via Dallas and Oklahoma City)
27. Minnesota
28. Denver
29. Utah (from Oklahoma City via Toronto and Indiana)
30. Boston

Second Round

31. Toronto (from Detroit via New York and LA Clippers)
32. Utah (from Washington via Detroit and Brooklyn)
33. Milwaukee (from Portland via Sacramento)
34. Portland (from Charlotte via Denver, Oklahoma City and New Orleans)
35. San Antonio
36. Indiana (from Toronto via Philadelphia, LA Clippers and Memphis)
37. Minnesota (from Memphis via Los Angeles Lakers, Washington and Oklahoma City)
38. New York (from Utah)
39. Memphis (from Brooklyn via Houston)
40. Portland (from Atlanta)
41. Philadelphia (from Chicago via Boston, San Antonio and New Orleans)
42. Charlotte (from Houston via Oklahoma City)
43. Miami
44. Houston (from Golden State via Atlanta)
45. Sacramento
46. LA Clippers (from Indiana via Memphis and Milwaukee)
47. Orlando
48. San Antonio (from Los Angeles Lakers via Memphis)
— Philadelphia forfeited
49. Indiana (from Cleveland)
50. Indiana (from New Orleans)
51. Washington (from Phoenix)
52. Golden State (from Milwaukee via Indiana)
53. Detroit (from New York via Philadelphia and Charlotte)
54. Boston (from Dallas via Sacramento)
55. Los Angeles Lakers (from LA Clippers)
56. Denver (from Minnesota via Oklahoma City)
57. Memphis (from Oklahoma City via Houston and Atlanta)
— Phoenix (from Denver via Orlando; Phoenix forfeited
58. Dallas (from Boston via Charlotte)

College Basketball Recruiting

According to 247sports.com, Duke has the top recruiting class for 2024 with five 5-stars . The rest of the top ten is Alabama, Rutgers, Arizona State, Missouri, Arkansas, Baylor, Miami, North Carolina and Georgia.

Arkansas and former Kentucky head coach John Calipari is the only other school with three 5-stars.

Two-time defending national UConn is ranked 11th in recruiting. No team has been a 3-peat champion since UCLA won 7 straight titles from 1967-1973, and a ridiculous 9 out of 10 from 1964-73.