2027 NBA Mock Draft: Tyran Stokes, Jordan Smith Jr., Stefan Joksimovic headline top picks before season starts — SkimNews
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- The 2027 NBA Draft will introduce a '3-2-1' lottery system expanding to 16 teams and 37 total balls, with the three worst records falling into a 'relegation' zone that receives only two balls each — a structural change that made forecasting the order effectively impossible for this mock.
- Tyran Stokes, a 6'8" Kansas freshman, projects as the No. 1 pick to the Brooklyn Nets and is called 'the most naturally talented prospect' in the class, with scouts watching whether his inconsistent approach affects winning.
- Stefan Joksimovic, a 6'7" Slovenian playing for Baskonia in Spain, is the first true international prospect of this cycle to skip college basketball entirely and lands at No. 3 after winning MVP of EuroCamp and the FIBA U18 European Championship.
- Jordan Smith Jr., a 6'2" Arkansas freshman guard, is No. 2 to the Bucks as the competitive polar opposite of Stokes — a standout defender and elite perimeter rebounder whose upside depends on continued skill progress.
- Three returning prospects — Amari Allen (Alabama), Motiejus Krivas (Arizona) and Thomas Haugh (Florida) — each would have been 2026 first-round picks but came back for NIL paydays or further development, and are placed at Nos. 6, 7 and 10 respectively.
- The mock is reverse-engineered from Tankathon's predictive win totals rather than team needs, because the new lottery math punishes the league's worst teams more than the old system did.
Why it matters: The '3-2-1' lottery restructures NBA tanking economics: the three worst-record teams now get the fewest balls, a sharp departure from the old format that rewarded losing. For the 2027 cycle specifically, that shift means scouts, agents and front offices cannot meaningfully project top picks with eight months to go, leaving NIL-returning sophomores like Allen, Krivas and Haugh in play to leapfrog freshmen based purely on season performance.
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