Mocks appear set on who Nuggets will select in 2024 NBA Draft

Mock draft season is fully underway as the NBA draft is now just three weeks away. The Celtics and Mavericks are obviously locked in on their Finals matchup, but the other 28 teams are officially in offseason mode. And the first big domino of the season is the NBA draft.

All of the major sports media publications have put out their own mock drafts, and most of them are updated frequently at this point. Now the combine has wrapped up, the lottery is a thing of the past, teams have conducted workouts, and more and more intel is emerging by the day.

But no matter how much intel comes out, mock drafts usually fly off the rails after the top few picks. That’s especially the case this season as it seems there isn’t even a consensus on the top overall pick, nonetheless the top 5 or 10.

Major media outlets all have DaRon Holmes going to the Nuggets

This makes it even more bizarre and surprising that almost every major reputable publication seems to have the Nuggets taking the same player with their first round pick, 28th overall, DaRon Holmes out of Dayton.

The Ringer, ESPN, Yahoo!, and Tankathon have all released recent updates to their mock, and each one has Holmes going to Denver at 28. This makes sense and would be a solid pick for the Nuggets. Holmes is a 6’9” big man who played well in college and showed an ability to play inside and out. He has some playmaking abilities and shot almost 40% from three this season.

He’s also an older prospect at almost 22 years old; in theory he’d be able to come in and help a team like the Nuggets right away. He has the ability to play backup center behind Nikola Jokic and could also log some minutes at power forward alongside the Joker.

Holmes canceled remaining pre-draft workouts

It’s also notable that ESPN reported that Holmes canceled the remainder of his predraft workouts, likely indicating that Holmes has a promise from a team. That would essentially entail a team assuring Holmes that if he’s available when they’re on the clock, they’ll take him.

Still, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports reported that “from what he’s heard” he doesn’t think the Nuggets are the team who offered Holmes the assurances. This makes it even more fascinating that all of these experts are aligned in their prediction for the Nuggets’ pick. 

Ultimately, the mocks don’t matter and there’s no guarantee Holmes will even be available by the 28th pick. But one thing is clear, NBA experts far and wide agree that the Nuggets need to invest in a backup big man and frontcourt depth; Holmes would fit the bill.