NBA Draft 2019 Big Board: Early prospect rankings lack true star potential

The NBA's 2018-19 regular season tipped off on Tuesday night with just about a handful of franchises holding championship aspirations. Those teams range from favored contenders like the Warriors, Rockets and Celtics to rosters arguably just a step away, including the Jazz, Thunder, Raptors and 76ers.

A number of other organizations will be content with a run to the playoffs. In some cases, that’s the end goal of a successful season. In a few, it will also serve as a sign of continued growth or potential future promise.

But as always, much of the league will lag behind. They’ll be forced to set their sights on the 2019 NBA Draft as a beacon of hope for the future.

It's never too early to start thinking about the draft.

NBA DRAFT 2019: Duke's trio, key returns and pick swaps

Several prospects at the top of the 2019 class are well-known to the general public. North Carolina's Nassir Little put on a show during the high school all-star circuit, while Duke's trio of R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cameron Reddish have been in the spotlight for years. Barrett has already established himself as a legitimate No. 1 pick, Williamson's combination of youth and elite athleticism is enticing and Reddish possesses the skill to be the best player of the bunch if he wants to be.

The problem for lottery teams is that the rest of the incoming class is lacking when it comes to real star potential. Combine that with a weak returning crop of college players — De'Andre Hunter, Daniel Gafford, Jontay Porter and Rui Hachimura headline the group — and a largely uninspiring international contingent, and we've got what could be one of the worst drafts in the last five years.

In prior years, the top-heavy 2019 class would be a prime candidate for league-wide tanking. It’s fitting then that this will be the year the league institutes lottery reform. Gone are the days when the NBA’s worst team would hold a 25.0 percent chance of landing the draft’s top pick and a guaranteed top three selection.

Instead, the 2019 odds will be flattened out with the three worst teams holding a 14.0 percent chance each of ending up at No. 1. In theory, reform should reduce the number of teams striving to be bad. In practice, maybe not. Either way, all that’s important now is that’s the way the ping pong balls will fall in May.

With those two overarching themes in mind, it’s time to reveal our first Big Board for the 2019 NBA Draft. What follows is a ranking of the top prospects in the class, not a prediction of the order they will actually be selected come next June. It’s likely some of these prospects won’t even declare in the spring.

Nonetheless, this preliminary top 60 can function as a sort of watch list for NBA fans to start the season.

NOTE: About positional designations… In keeping up with modern lineup versatility, we’ve eschewed historically accurate PG, SG, SF, PF and C descriptors. Instead, we’re using broader terms like combo (PG/SG), wing (SG/SF), forward (SF/PF) and big (PF/C) to reflect the ability of a player to move up and down a lineup.