Hindsight is a cruel mistress in the world of professional basketball. If you go back and look at any 2020 NBA mock draft from the months leading up to that weird, pandemic-delayed November night, you’ll probably find yourself laughing. Or cringing. Honestly, it depends on which team you root for.
Drafting is hard. It’s basically educated gambling with millions of dollars and the future of a franchise on the line. But the 2020 class was a special kind of chaotic because of the COVID-19 shutdown. Scouts couldn't go to games. There was no NCAA Tournament. No traditional combine. Just hours of grainy film and Zoom interviews.
The Anthony Edwards vs. James Wiseman Coin Flip
Back in 2020, the debate at the top was fierce. You had Anthony Edwards, the explosive guard from Georgia who some worried didn't "love" the game because of an interview where he mentioned football. Then you had James Wiseman, the towering center who played exactly three games at Memphis before a suspension and subsequent dropout.
Almost every 2020 NBA mock draft had these two in the top three, but the order was a mess.
Golden State was in a weird spot. They had the #2 pick and a dynasty that was temporarily sidelined by injuries. They needed a big. Wiseman looked like a David Robinson clone on tape. We know how that ended—Wiseman is struggling to find a consistent home in the league while "Ant-Man" has become the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves and a legitimate MVP candidate.
It's wild to think that people actually questioned Edwards' motor. He’s currently one of the most competitive humans on the planet. LaMelo Ball was the third piece of that trinity, and while his flair was undeniable, scouts were terrified of his father and his unorthodox shot mechanics. Turns out, the talent was real. He won Rookie of the Year for a reason.
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The Tyrese Haliburton Slide That Still Makes No Sense
If you want to see a general manager sweat, ask them why they passed on Tyrese Haliburton.
In nearly every 2020 NBA mock draft published by experts at ESPN or The Athletic, Haliburton was projected as a late lottery pick, usually around 8 to 12. He ended up going 12th to the Sacramento Kings. Looking back, it’s arguably the biggest blunder of the draft for the teams picking in the 4-11 range.
The "knock" on Haliburton was his jump shot. It looked like he was pushing a shot-put ball rather than flicking a basketball. It was ugly. It was slow. Analysts thought it would get blocked every time he stepped on an NBA court.
Guess what? It didn't matter.
Haliburton is a savant. He sees plays three seconds before they happen. While teams were chasing "upside" with guys like Patrick Williams (who went 4th to Chicago) or Killian Hayes (who went 7th to Detroit), they ignored the guy who was already an elite floor general. This is a recurring theme in the NBA. Teams get blinded by athleticism and ignore the guys who actually know how to play winning basketball.
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International Men of Mystery: Deni Avdija and Killian Hayes
Every year, there’s an international prospect that the media falls in love with. In 2020, it was Deni Avdija from Maccabi Tel Aviv and Killian Hayes from Ulm.
Hayes was the darling of the "draft Twitter" community. Kevin O'Connor at The Ringer famously had Hayes as the #1 overall prospect on his big board. Yes, over Anthony Edwards. The logic was that Hayes was a 6'5" lefty playmaker with PnR (pick-and-roll) skills that mirrored a young James Harden.
It didn't translate.
Hayes struggled with the speed of the NBA game and a lack of a dominant right hand. He’s a prime example of how a 2020 NBA mock draft could be perfectly logical based on the available data and still be catastrophically wrong. Avdija has carved out a nice career as a versatile role player, but the "Luka-lite" comparisons he received during the draft cycle were always unfair and inaccurate.
The Late Round Gems Nobody Saw Coming
The real value of looking at an old 2020 NBA mock draft is seeing who was ignored.
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- Tyrese Maxey (21st overall): How did he fall this far? He played for John Calipari at Kentucky. That's usually a fast track to the top 10. Maxey had questions about his true position—was he a point guard or a shooting guard? The Sixers stopped his slide, and now he’s an All-Star.
- Desmond Bane (30th overall): This one is a pure scouting failure. Bane was old for a prospect (four years at TCU) and had "short arms." Teams obsessed over his wingspan and ignored the fact that he was the best shooter in the country. He’s now one of the premier wings in the league for Memphis.
- Immanuel Quickley (25th overall): Another Kentucky guard who was undervalued because he played a specific, restricted role in college.
What We Learned from the 2020 Draft Cycle
First, fit matters, but talent is king. Minnesota took the best athlete and the best personality in Edwards, and it saved their franchise. Golden State took a positional fit in Wiseman, and it set them back years in terms of young asset development.
Second, the "eye test" on jumpshots is often wrong. If the ball goes in, it goes in. Haliburton and Bane proved that mechanics aren't everything if the results are consistent.
Third, the "COVID Year" proved that scouting isn't just about watching film. It’s about the psychological makeup of the player. Without the pressure of the NCAA tournament, teams had to guess who had the "dawg" in them. Edwards had it. Maxey had it. Haliburton had it.
How to Evaluate Draft Prospects Going Forward
If you're looking at future drafts, don't just look at the mock lists. They are often echoes of what scouts are hearing, not necessarily what is true.
- Look for production over potential: Players like Haliburton who had elite statistical profiles in college usually succeed, even if they have physical "flaws."
- Ignore the "he's too old" narrative: Players like Desmond Bane who stay in school for four years are often more "NBA-ready" and provide immediate value that 19-year-olds can't match.
- Value the Kentucky guard: It’s almost a meme at this point, but Kentucky guards (Booker, Murray, Maxey, Quickley) almost always perform better in the NBA than they did in college because the spacing is better.
The 2020 NBA mock draft season was a fever dream of uncertainty and speculation. It gave us a superstar in Edwards, a cautionary tale in Wiseman, and a reminder that sometimes, the best players are hiding in plain sight at the end of the first round. The lesson is simple: never trust a "perfect" scouting report. The game is played on hardwood, not on a spreadsheet.
To truly understand player value, watch how a prospect handles adversity. In 2020, the players who stayed disciplined during the lockdown were the ones who exploded once the lights came back on. When evaluating any draft class, prioritize the "mental motor" as much as the vertical leap. That is the difference between an All-Star and a draft bust.