Cavs 2022 NBA Draft Notebook: Patrick Baldwin Jr. Scouting Report

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Patrick Baldwin Jr., Milwaukee Panthers. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images) /

Last fall as I was preparing for another basketball season around the corner, I took a look at some of the highest-rated prospects in the class of 2021.

At the top of ESPN’s final 2021 player rankings was Chet Holmgren, who would go on to have a great year at Gonzaga, and will assuredly be a top-three pick. Below him was Jaden Hardy, who took his talents to the G-League and had a disappointing season. Notably at the fourth slot was Paolo Banchero, another player who will likely go in the top three. Jabari Smith, who could be the number one pick by the Orlando Magic, was the sixth-rated recruit in the class.

As you go down the list you can see guys like Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren, who had disappointing seasons at Memphis. Bates, for what it’s worth, was actually the third-rated recruit, too.

However, the biggest question mark out of all of those elite prospects, is Patrick Baldwin Jr. He’s a 6’9″ wing, who had a disastrous year playing for his father at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Baldwin finished his 2020 campaign ranking fifth in ESPN’s rankings. So what exactly happened to the exciting wing?

While we have seen guys like Ja Morant, CJ McCollum, and even Damian Lillard have a lot of success in the NBA coming from smaller schools, it doesn’t always work out. Jimmer Fredette is a perfect example of a fantastic college player, who just couldn’t make it work in the NBA. In the case of Baldwin Jr., there’s a lot of reasons to believe he will be a good NBA player, even after his rocky start at UW-Milwaukee.

Jaden Ivey, Shaedon Sharpe, and Keegan Murray are the three players expected to go after Smith, Banchero, and Holmgren it seems. But, after that there is a fairly big drop off to the next tier of prospects that include Johnny Davis and Malaki Branham. Most recent mock drafts have Baldwin Jr. going late in the first round, so the Cleveland Cavaliers selecting him at 14 seems out of the realm of possibility.

With that being said, could the Cavs possibly trade down or feasibly up to get back into the first round later to get more talent? Personally, I think everything is on the table going into the 2022 NBA Draft. So, let’s take a look at Patrick Baldwin Jr.