Fantasy Basketball 2024: 1st-Round NBA Mock Draft and Top Team Names

Opening night of the 2024-25 NBA season arrives in less than two weeks.

It's time for fantasy basketball managers to shift their pre-draft preparation process into overdrive.

We're here to help with the acceleration by running through a mock first round using FantasyPros' mock simulator and laying out some mock draft strategies before finishing with a batch of fun team names to consider.

First round

1. Victor Wembanyama, C, San Antonio Spurs

2. Nikola Jokić, C, Denver Nuggets

3. Luka Dončić, PG, Dallas Mavericks

4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder

5. Joel Embiid, C, Philadelphia 76ers

6. Anthony Davis, PF/C, Los Angeles Lakers

7. Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF/C, Milwaukee Bucks

8. Jayson Tatum, SF/PF, Boston Celtics

9. Tyreese Haliburton, PG/SG, Indiana Pacers

10. Anthony Edwards, SG/SF, Minnesota Timberwolves

11. Trae Young, PG, Atlanta Hawks

12. Domantas Sabonis, PF/C, Sacramento Kings

Take realistic risks.

Because mock drafts have no ramifications upon completion, you should feel emboldened to take some risks.

If you're a round or two higher on a player than their average draft position, go ahead and make that pick. By draft's end, you'll be able to see what happened as a result of that pick and whether the opportunity cost of your "reach" was worth getting the player you wanted.

What you don't want to do, though, is deviate so far from the normal course of action that it warps the results of your mock. Taking a player five rounds earlier than you need to sends no message beyond the obvious fact that it was a wasted pick.

Try different builds than normal.

There's a decent chance you'll enter your draft with a fairly clear idea for your plan of attack. Perhaps it's even one you've had success with in the past.

That's all well and good, but mock drafts allow you to step outside of your comfort zone with no consequences. That means you can adopt different approaches and see how your squad shapes up in the end. Perhaps you'll find something worth applying to your strategy.

It might be valuing a certain position earlier than you normally would or purposely avoiding a category in hopes of strengthening all the others. You might not like the final result, but you'll never know until you try.

Run multiple mocks and try identifying trends.

One mock draft room won't offer much intel beyond how the different managers in that room were feeling at the time. It's a helpful exercise just to go through the motions of making selections on the clock, but it's such a small sample size that the data gleaned from that mock isn't necessarily applicable outside of it.

So, if you have the time, run through as many mocks as possible and keep an eye out for patterns. If you find certain players are consistently going earlier or later than pre-draft rankings suggest, it's probably worth adjusting your own rankings accordingly.

Tyrese's Pieces

Madison Square Harden

The Gobert Report

The Zion King

I Deserve a Sabonis

Rock 'Em, Siakam Robots

Average Joel

Impractical Jokić

About Dame Time

Luka Skywalker