I love the NBA Draft.

It’s a great television product. It’s 4-ish hours of discussion of who was great in college basketball this past season and how great they’re going to be in the NBA. Mix in paid professional commentators being forced to say something about every single pick, and you get the occasional completely outlandish projection or hype, and we all get to giggle and laugh about it. There’s also the fun of getting to see what the combination of 19 year olds and professional style consultants think is the best and coolest possible thing to be wearing when your realizing your wildest dream come true. BREAKING NEWS: Sometimes it is very silly, and we get to giggle and laugh about that, too.

That’s just the base level of why I like the NBA Draft. That’s there year in and year out. This year is different for me and for you, the smart and intelligent Marquette fan. Sophomore forward Justin Lewis threw his hat into the ring for the NBA Draft this year after averaging a team high 16.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game to guide the Golden Eagles to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019. Thus, we’ll be watching to see when Lewis’ name gets called.

We are going to be waiting for a while, though. As we discussed earlier this week, it seems unlikely, though not impossible, that Lewis will be selected in the first round of the draft. John Hollinger of The Athletic has Lewis as the #27 prospect on his Big Board, and CBS Sports’ David Cobb put Lewis in the first round at #29 out of 30 picks, and Jeremy Woo from Sports Illustrated ranked Lewis as the 28th best prospect in the draft. Woo also slotted Lewis in as the #33 pick when he did a mock draft a few days later, so even if you would give Lewis a first round grade, that doesn’t mean he’ll be a top 30 pick.

The consensus amongst draftniks willing to publish a full 58 pick mock draft is that Lewis will be selected at some point tonight. Will that be in the first round, or the 30s, or into the 40s, or into the 50s? That’s what we’re going to have to wait and find out.

2022 NBA Draft

Date: Thursday, June 23, 2022
Time: 7pm Central
Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Television: ESPN all the way through, ABC for only the first round
Streaming: WatchESPN.com