With the 2022 NBA Draft in the books, all attention has shifted to next year’s crop of prospects.
After Jaylin Williams was taken by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round Thursday night, Arkansas has had a player drafted in four straight years and that streak will almost certainly extend to five in 2023.
Several outlets have already published their first 2023 mock drafts and the Razorbacks’ trio of incoming McDonald’s All-Americans are sprinkled throughout the projections.
Despite being the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2022 class, Nick Smith Jr. is widely considered the top NBA Draft prospect in the college ranks.
The unanimous pick to go first overall in 2023 is Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-3 generational talent from France, and Scoot Henderson with the G League Ignite is viewed as the second-best prospect by many.
Right behind those guys, though, is Smith. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Yahoo! Sports’ Krysten Peek each have the five-star prospect out of North Little Rock at No. 3 in their debut 2023 mock drafts. One outlet — The Sporting News — actually slotted Smith ahead of Henderson at No. 2.
That would make Smith the highest-drafted Arkansas player of the modern era. Future Hall of Fame guard Sidney Moncrief currently holds that title, going No. 5 overall in 1979.
The newest member in Arkansas’ signing class, Anthony Black is also viewed as a potential lottery pick. He wasn’t included in Parrish’s lottery projection, but ESPN, SB Nation, Yahoo! Sports and The Sporting News have him between No. 10 and No. 13.
The biggest wildcard is Jordan Walsh. Despite being a five-star prospect, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus regarding where he stands in the pecking order for the 2023 NBA Draft.
SB Nation actually has him in the lottery at No. 12, while The Sporting News and ESPN each have him as a first-round pick at No. 18 and No. 21, respectively, and Yahoo! Sports didn’t include him in the first round.
Assuming all three end up being one-and-done, first-round picks, it’d be just the second time in school history that Arkansas had a trio of first-rounders in one year. The first time came in 1992 with Todd Day (No. 8 overall), Oliver Miller (No. 22) and Lee Mayberry (No. 23).
