The 2022 NBA Draft was supposed to be a whirlwind of chaos. All of the so-called experts predicted players going much higher or lower than expected, a mess of complicated trades and a lot of uncertainty as to who came away as winners and losers.
They were absolutely right. The insanity of the draft was in full effect from the start, when Paolo Banchero went first overall to the Orlando Magic despite the assurances of every NBA insider that Jabari Smith Jr. was supposed to be the pick. Smith then fell to 3rd, and things stayed crazy from there.
The 2022 NBA Draft is complete, and a chaotic night now becomes a morning of evaluation. What draft grade did each team in the Eastern Conference earn?
Now that the smoke has cleared, which teams came away as big winners from the night, and which came away as big losers? Let’s take a look at just one-half of the league by evaluating the Eastern Conference and assigning a grade to each team that made a pick. The Western Conference had a couple of A+ drafts; does the East have any such standouts?
Each draft pick is listed under each team, with a breakdown of prospect and fit. We’ll also touch on draft-night trades and try to track the path of each pick as it changed hands. We start with the Atlanta Hawks, who got great value by stopping the slide of a one-time Top 5 prospect.