4. Dragan Bender
Age: 18
Position: PF
School/Country: Croatia
Height: 7-1
Weight: 225 pounds
If there’s an albatross in the lottery picks—meaning a player that just stands out that you don’t really know what to make of—it doesn’t take long to peg Dragan Bender as that guy. While he has so much going for him, there’s also so many risks when it comes to his prospects in the NBA. As such, he’s so hard to gauge.
As far as upside goes, Bender is up there with the best prospects in this draft. He has the size and length of a legit huge power forward with range, but has also showed tremendous skill at a young age for a player his size. That being said, Bender’s floor is low as well. There are great concerns about his strength and about the notion of him not having played much for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. There’s a concern that he may be an overreaction to the Kristaps Porzingis hype in regards to big, skilled European prospects.
For the Lakers, it’d be a shocking event if they took the big man at No. 2. While Bender could work out in the NBA, he’s too risky at No. 2 for LA.
Next: No. 3 Dunn