NBA Draft: What if the Cavs get the No. 1 pick this summer?

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Paolo Banchero, Duke Blue Devils and Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga Bulldogs. Photo by Lance King/Getty Images /

Welcome to March.

For those Cavs fans who have been locked into the NBA season, welcome to the best sports month of the year. The NBA is in full swing for the stretch run, with jockeying for seeding and plenty of marquee matchups. Football and baseball take something of a backseat (although both have plenty of offseason drama right now). And college basketball? Well, it takes center stage.

The Madness started early this year, with the top six teams in the country all losing this past Saturday. Duke, ranked seventh, was the highest-ranked team to win. The incredible action and chaos will continue through the month, with conference tournaments kicking off this week and Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament less than two weeks away.

The Cavs have a non-zero chance to have a high lottery pick. If they do end up at the top of the 2022 NBA Draft, who should they draft?

Those aforementioned Top 7 teams that all lost? Among them they contain all four players in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick. It’s unusual for that many players to still be in the mix this late in the season; even last year, with its “Top 5” players, saw Cade Cunningham emerge as the frontrunner by this point in the year.

Not so this season, as it’s still a complicated question mark at the top. Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren and Purdue’s Jaden Ivey could all easily be the No. 1 pick this June.

Why does this matter to the Cavs? Hopefully, they get Darius Garland and Caris LeVert back healthy, right the ship and end up hosting a playoff series. Yet the downside looming before them is palpable; if Garland and LeVery miss significant time, the possibility of missing the playoffs slips towards probability.

Cleveland is currently tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference at 36-25. They have 2.5 games up on the seventh-place Toronto Raptors, and and the Brooklyn Nets are expecting Kevin Durant back next week and are only two games further. It’s not crazy that they could fall to eighth or below with an extended rocky stretch.

If the Cavs end up with the 13th or 14th spot in the lottery, they will most likely be shopping in the late lottery for wings. But what if the unlikely happens, and they leap up into the Top 4 — or even secure the No. 1 overall pick? It’s unlikely, sure, but not impossible. If they are in slot 13, there is a 1 percent chance of the top pick, and a 4.7 percent chance (1-in-21) of leaping into the Top 4.

Let’s say it happens. The Cavs once again have the favor of the lottery gods (i.e. the league office) and win yet another No. 1 overall pick. Who do they pick to add to their young core?