28 and under fantasy draft, picks 13-15:
13) De’Aaron Fox | Sacramento Kings | Age 23
The ongoing ineptitude of the Kings franchise, missing the playoffs for the fifteenth straight season, makes it difficult to decide where to draft a guy like Fox. Same goes for extremely talented Zach Lavine, Karl-Anthony Towns, Collin Sexton’s of the world who are just so irrelevant in the grand scheme stuck in dumpster fire situations.
But ultimately, we’re drafting these guys in a vacuum to start on a fresh, brand new team. And Fox is certainly the goods. An explosive athlete, bonafide scorer, high end distributor and ball-handler, and a contagious positive force with tremendous leadership. We just need to see Fox and the aforementioned players in high leverage playoff moments to see where they truly should land.
14) Brandon Ingram | New Orleans Pelicans | Age 23
Since arriving in the Big Easy the former most improved player of the year has blossomed into a scary young prospect. A 6’10 lengthy athlete who has developed some guard-like skills and rounded out his game as a scorer.
Assuming he continues to take strides as a facilitator and defender, he can be a really franchise cornerstone in New Orleans as Zion’s sidekick for years to come.
15) Anthony Davis | Los Angeles Lakers | Age 28
Finally!! Lake Show nation here’s your guy at last. I hope you didn’t scroll right down to this point! Davis obviously has the disadvantage to the guys ahead of him in terms of age and injuries logged. However, as aforementioned the established top five player in the league for his extremely unstoppable two-way impact, still in his prime at age 28, calls for him being taken in the top half of the “first round of the draft.”
Expect the Brow to take off and raise his level of play and production as the postseason begins, assuming both he and LeBron are right from a health standpoint. Even with looming health concerns and the obstacle of extra game(s) with the play-in, the Los Angeles Lakers are still the clear western conference favorite heading into this spicy, brand new 2021 playoffs.
***Players drafted after Anthony Davis in order: Embiid (27), Gilgeous-Alexander (22), Young (22), Ball (19), Sabonis (25), Anthony-Towns (25), Lavine (26), Collins (23), Beal (27), Ayton (22), Edwards (19), Porter Jr (22), Randle (26), Barrett (20), Sexton (22)***