Fantasy Basketball industry mock draft 2023: 9-cat mock with 14 experts from around the world

Some would call it "the most wonderful time of the year" — it's fantasy basketball draft season! As opening tip of the 2023 NBA season draws closer and closer, mock drafts start becoming real drafts and all our preseason prep turns into the real deal. 

My esteemed colleague Kyle Irving and I — the ones keeping Sporting News fantasy hoops alive — decided to prepare in the best way possible. We assembled 12 other experts from the fantasy basketball industry into a 14-team, 14-round, 9-category mock. Talk about a clash of the titans!

Like anything in life, practice makes perfect — and going up against the heavyweights only makes you stronger. Industry mocks can be very challenging, as you're often chasing the same sleepers and breakouts as the guy you just debated rankings with on his podcast.

MORE: Sporting News 2023 Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet, Draft Kit

But there's a reason why all the fantasy hoops analysts do mocks, besides the fact that it makes for great content. It's also a great opportunity to learn how fellow experts think when they're on the clock, how we adjust our roster-building strategies on the fly in some cases, and how we (try to) never lose sight of the big picture.  

Let's meet our distinguished panel and then reveal how all 14 rounds shook out. Please feel free to X-troll any and all of us about our teams — we can certainly handle a little razzing!

MORE FANTASY BASKETBALL:
Top 200 rankings | Sleepers | Busts | Breakout players | 'Do not draft' list | Rising stars

Fantasy basketball industry mock draft: 9-cat, 14 teams

Meet the industry mockers

We can't even explain how honored we were to draft against some of the most intelligent minds of the fantasy hoops industry. After years of reading, watching, and listening to these guys, we now have the privilege of calling them colleagues. Who's got it better than us!? I strongly recommend giving each of these guys a follow — who knows, you might even hear me on one of their podcasts!

Enough adulation — let's get to the draft, with a round-by-round synopsis and my two cents. Then at the end of the draft, I'll share every analysts' full squad. 

Round 1

You can't really go wrong in the first round — almost every player here has a solid floor. Kyle and Noah made the right moves at No. 1 and 2, as you simply can't do better than Jokic and Embiid if they stay healthy. Haliburton has always been my guy, but I wonder if I could have landed him at five or six if I had the luxury of trading down. The moment we saw Josh Lloyd take Curry, we knew he would be compiling some scoring behemoths. I'm out on Dame and Giannis so high — Tatum seems like a much higher-upside pick in the 6-7 range. Ball consistently falling outside the top 10 must be related to his injury history, because he's a top-five fantasy asset when healthy. Booker is an underrated early-teens pick — he's a tremendously efficient shooter and scorer and the leading candidate to absorb CP3's vacated assists. I agree with Son's choice to draft Book over Kyrie. 

Round 2

The top four picks of the second round could all easily finish ranked in the top 10 of 9-cats. Bridges might be a superstar in the making, but many analysts fear he will come back to Earth after finishing sixth last season. KAT and the Grizzlies feel like boom-or-bust picks, as do the run of veterans towards the back end of the round. I went with FVV to gather as many points and assists as possible early. I always go with PG13 in this spot, but I decided to go with a guard-heavy build. I wrote recently that LeBron at No. 28 feels risky, but if he plays 70 games it could be a league-winning move by Kyle to pair him with Joker.

Round 3

Okay, Kyle — I see you. Joker, Bron, and Cade has some serious 'league takeover' potential if all goes well — but the threat of injuries will always be right over the shoulder of the latter two. I made a split-second decision to draft Bam because he's a big who can pass the rock and knock down free throws. I don't hate it for my squad. If I had more intestinal fortitude, I would have gone Josh's route and grabbed Harden, but I have a rule about drafting head cases. I also tend to avoid high-profile young rookies on below-average teams, but Wemby could very well make me regret avoiding him sooner than later. Lots of players in this round appear in my emerging stars column, so it stung a bit to see some of them go so early. No such thing as sleepers in industry mocks, that's for sure.

Round 4

Things start to get really interesting in the fourth round, especially in 14-team leagues. We see a lot of high-upside guys go here, including OKC big man and preseason stud Chet Holmgren, Philly point guard Tyrese Maxey, and Raptors wins O.G. Anunoby and Scottie Barnes. Josh Lloyd has been talking much of the preseason about how people are sleeping on Jordan Poole just because they don't like him, and to a certain extent I agree — he should see massive volume in Washington and he's a hell of a shooter. I was crossing my fingers for LaVine, though, one of the guys I like to break into superstardom this season. But, alas, Mitchy broke my heart. That put me into full tilt mode and I picked Randle because he does a little bit of everything and I'm clearly punting field goal percentage at this point (but it's OK, because others are punting FG%, too!). I'm full-speed ahead with assists, steals, threes, points, and free-throw percentage. Punting multiple cats can be a bit of a white-knuckle strategy, but the best way to do it is to go heavy guard or heavy big man. 

Round 5

Kyle continues a strong draft with perhaps the highest-ceiling player getting drafted in the 50s or later. Of course, Zion could also explode into a million pieces by December, so this is a textbook risk-vs-reward pick. With Kyle's depth, I'm totally behind the move. Many of the analysts in our group love Walker Kessler, and I'm just now realizing I've drafted him in zero mocks. I like both the floor of a Nic Claxton and the upside of an Alperen Sengun more than Kessler in this general area. But I'm punting blocks like Jack Black punts border terriers, so I happily bagged my breakout star candidate Devin Vassell. I'm drafting him all over the place this fall — he has the potential to blossom into a top-25 asset in 9-cats. He reached 29 points three different times during the '22-23 campaign, scored at least 20 points in 18 of his 34 games, and dropped four-plus assists 19 times. He's a stud. 

Round 6

My favorite picks in this grouping include Gafford, Reaves, Williams, and of course, Tyus Jones. All four of those guys make my sleepers list this season, and three of 'em crack Kyle's sleepers, too. These are all very solid players who will assuredly see their roles elevate this season, and I wouldn't be surprised if all four finished the season ranked in the top 50. I'm happy to have landed Jones at 82 — he has led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio five years in a row, he has developed his shot well over the past few seasons, and he finally gets the keys to an offense for a full campaign. I could see him emerging like Fred VanVleet did in 2018-19, with less scoring volume. You're welcome to @ me on that take — I will die on this hill.

Round 7

First off, Kyle's team is so cool. Mine's cool if you love point guards. I took a gamble, dug my feet into my build, and drafted yet another steals and assists guy — but in retrospect, I probably should have secured some rebounds at this point. Too much can go wrong if you're super-solid in three or four categories but middle-of-the-pack in two others and flat-out awful in three. The only league I've ever won with a four-cat punt strategy was an all-out big-man build. I'm not saying I have no chance with my guard-heavy build — I'm just saying a lot of chips will have to fall my way in order to succeed. As soon as Mitch and Josh took Duren and Carter bang-bang, I felt regret. Then Besbris got pretty good value with Capela at 98 (side note: Dan totally missed a large segment of this draft, so I'm being kind and not critiquing his auto-build.) (Side note No. 2: we drafted before the most recent Miles Bridges news came out. Personally, I'm pulling him from the player pool in all my leagues.)

Round 8

Lots of uninspiring names here, which is no offense to anyone who took them. It's just a weird part of the draft in general. I kind of like the upside of Jabari Smith Jr., but I doubt he'll see enough of a usage uptick to be a difference-maker and it's hard to trust his shot selection. Zach Collins was a great pick here by Stock — he's absolutely going to benefit from starting at center next to Wemby. I'm also big on Okongwu taking over the starting center job in the ATL at some point. It had been 84 years since I drafted a big, so I settled on Jonas Valanciunas since he's a dependable board-crasher and a solid free-throw shooter. And if Zion, Ingram, or McCollum miss time (which they will), he will be involved in the Pels' offense. 

Round 9

Round 9 might as well be called the "Shoot Your Shot" round. Outside of Hart and Conley, most of the picks in this grouping were aimed at upside. Noah grabbed Blazers sleeper Shaedon Sharpe just ahead of me, which forced me into Huerter for a boost in threes and points. Looking back, maybe I should have taken Mathurin like Mitch did, as I expect big things from Benny once Buddy Hield gets dealt out of Indy. There's nothing to lose for Josh with Ben Simmons here — if he plays and returns to even 65 percent of what he once was, he's a steal at 117. Ausar Thompson might be my favorite fantasy rookie outside of Wemby, with the Mavs' Dereck Lively II a close second. Ausar in a Monty Williams system alongside Cade and company will be fun to watch develop. If Detroit ships out Bojan, it's a good sign for Ausar but possibly a bad sign for Bojan. We may never see another season like 2022 for Bogie. I do have hope for a good comeback from Murphy III (meniscus), whenever that happens — and P.J. Washington has intriguing upside now that Miles Bridges is most likely gone for good (bad human).

Round 10

We've reached semi-deep sleeper territory, and a few names I like here are Sochan, Reed, Bey, and Schroder. At this point, you want to take a chance on a guy who could develop into a semi-core rotation player that can aid you in multiple categories. Sochan could very well be the point forward of this Spurs team, and his passing, defensive, and rebounding abilities make him a great investment anywhere after pick 110. Reed could be for Nick Nurse what Brett Brown tried making Al Horford a few years ago. Bey, who seems to get picked by Josh in every mock he partakes in, has a big chance in Atlanta now that John Collins landed in Utah. If he continues to take good shots like he did in the last third of the 2022-23 season, he will be a big-time value at 136. Schroder replaced Fred VanVleet in an offense that won't likely see O.G. Anunoby or Scottie Barnes suddenly become alphas. The German will get plenty of shots. So, too, will my guy Jordan Clarkson, who might be the best scorer remaining at this point of drafts.

Round 11

We've reached full-blown flier mode now, with a lot of question marks regarding roles, health, and age. Hanshew had a good grab with Kuminga, who somehow has center eligibility on some sites, and I think he has a chance to bust loose a bit if Draymond continues to quarrel with the injury bug. Christian Wood makes for a decent dart throw here, but we wonder how much playing time he gets in Darvin Ham's offense. He's shooting the ball well, at least, but the reason he made very little money on the open market is that he can't play defense to save his life and he would rather chuck threes than box dudes out. I'm with Son — give me the high floor of KCP over the questionable ceiling of the Crucifix.

Round 12

For many, this is the "What the Hell?" portion of the draft. Typically 10-team and 12-team leagues will only have about 13 rounds at most, but we swung for the fences and did 14 rounds with 14 analysts. This shines a light on some intriguing deep sleepers like Dereck Lively II (who I'm kicking myself for not drafting in the previous round) and Jalen Johnson, both of whom have looked special this preseason. 

Round 13

This grouping includes a lot of one-dimensional or limited-upside veterans and some low-floor youngsters. I went with Oubre for scoring upside. Mike gets steals and some dimes from Caruso. Titus gets some three-pointers from Strus, who should start in Cleveland. Bruski gets assists from Carter. Stock corners the late-round rebound behemoth in Looney. If Rudy Gobert or Karl-Anthony Towns get shipped out of Minnesota, Reid is the steal here. Otherwise, Son probably nabbed the best value with Caleb Martin. 

Round 14

Last but not least (or maybe I should say last and least), we present the 14th round. Rikleen gets a solid backup point guard in Vincent, who would almost certainly elevate to starter if D'Angelo Russell got hurt. Kennard should get plenty of run for Stock while Ja Morant is serving his suspension, so the three-pointers will be a nice boost on low-volume days. Jaden Hardy will likely elevate to the Mavs' starting five if (or rather when) either Kyrie Irving or Luka Doncic miss time (they're no Iron Men). Curry's a three-point dart throw, as I clearly ended the draft trying to overcompensate for my troubling scoring projections. 

Final Team Results

Kyle Irving (Sporting News)

I've said it before and I'll say it again — Kyle drafted the coolest team in the league with a bunch of players who will be fun to watch and root for if they can stay healthy. He assembled fantastic counting-stat balance with his first few selections, but we wonder if he secured enough rebounds or three-pointers later in the draft to make up for his defensive stats and shooting percentages. The first pick often feels like a blessing early, but the long wait in the later rounds starts feeling more like a curse. 

Noah Rubin (NBC/Rotoworld/Fantasy Basketball International)

Noah made the wise choice to stick with Embiid at No. 2, and then he filled out his roster masterfully to complement Embiid's strengths. He has established a solid core with an emphasis on scoring, rebounding, and blocks, and we like his chances of hitting on at least a couple of his later-round sleepers. Three-pointers and free-throw shooting could be a struggle at times for this squad.

Sloan Piva (The Sporting News)

I'm very loyal to my guy Tyrese Haliburton anywhere between picks No. 3 and 6. But like I said all draft, going all-in on assists, steals, scoring, three-pointers, and free-throw percentage can be a boom-or-bust strategy. The Bam and Randle picks will probably get picked apart, but together with Valanciunas, they should help this squad at least compete in rebounds here and there. I went too safe with later-round picks and deviated from my usual M.O. to avoid older vets. In retrospect, I should have taken a chance on some younger guys with higher upsides. I'm already probably losing field-goal percentage and turnovers — why not shoot for the fences in the last few rounds? 

Mitch Casey (The Ball Boys Podcast)

Upside, upside, upside! It's hard not to love this squad in a 14-team league, as it has a little bit of everything. It's hard to pick apart too many decisions in this draft — it's a squad that will regularly contend for the weekly lead in a plethora of categories outside of assists and steals. Solid drafting, Mitchy!

Josh Lloyd (Basketball Monster/Locked On Fantasy Basketball)

Josh compiled good scoring and very good free-throw shooting, three-point shooting, and rebounding. However, his squad won't always have the greatest time competing for defensive stats, field-goal percentage, or turnovers. What we love about Josh's team — and most of the lineups he puts together in mocks — is that he seems to get good value on just about every selection. 

Mike Catron (Watch the Boxes)

Yahoo projected Mike's team to finish No. 1, but I'm going to push back on that just a hair. Dame will play alongside a ball-dominant MVP for the first time in his career — should we be counting on him to score and create as the sixth overall pick should? Vucevic is fine at 51, but why draft him if you're not going for rebounds? Butler, Garland, and stud sleeper Jalen Williams will be awesome, but we're not so sure about Middleton, Barnes, Brooks, and Dort. My favorite value pick here is Onyeka Okongwu, who I believe will take over the Hawks' starting center job from Clint Capela at some point this season. 

Dan Titus (Yahoo Fantasy)

If Dan's squad can stay healthy, it should be competitive in rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and field goal percentage. He's banking on a huge year from Bane and Murray, which he could very well get with Ja Morant sidelined and Trae Young trade rumors swirling. Lots of risks involved with the Ingram, Lopez, Fults, and Green stretch — and Brogdon and Hayward put the cherry on top. If injuries didn't exist, this team could be dominant. But injuries exist, so I'm projecting this team to finish in the middle of the pack at best.

Zak Hanshew (NBC/Rotoworld)

Zak put together a build centered around rebounds, defensive stats, and assists. He shot for upside with Giannis, JJJ, and Wemby, which could very well work out in his favor. I love Banchero at 64 but I'm not as keen on Smart at 77 or Rob Williams at 92. His sleeper backs at the back end of his roster leave a little to be desired, too, with the exception of maybe Kuminga and Braun. 

Aaron Bruski (Basketball Ethos)

Bruski had a low-key awesome draft. He should be competitive in points, threes, steals, blocks, and turnovers all season. Tatum at No. 9 seems like theft, and KAT, KP, and O.G. all have high ceilings. Murphy at 121 is a no-brainer — even if he misses the first month, he's a steal at this point of the draft given everything he offers in fantasy. I also like the Reed, Horford, and Carter picks — Reed and Horford should have big roles with Embiid and Porzingis the only true bigs around them, and Carter could very well end up starting at point guard in Chicago. 

Adam Stock (Elite Fantasy Basketball)

Adam punted threes, but his squad will be solid in field goal percentage, points, rebounds, defensive stats, and turnovers. AD and Mikal Bridges in the first two rounds warrant a chef's kiss, and both Gafford at 75 and Collins at 103 stand out as massive values. Given the nature of this build, I might have gone in a different direction than Fox, DeRozan, and Brown in the third, fourth, and seventh rounds.

Alex Rikleen (Rotowire/CBS Sports)

You have to love getting LaMelo, Trae, Murray, and Maxey to start a draft. This squad will be launching all season — and while its field goal percentage and turnovers may finish last, he could compete for first in points, three-pointers, assists, steals, and free-throw percentage. This squad is a roto nightmare but a 9-cat dream. 

Raphielle Johnson (NBC/Rotoworld)

Raph put together a well-balanced squad with good scoring and defensive stats and decent three-point upside. It shouldn't be a high turnover team, but we also wonder if he will struggle in the percentage cats outside of his big three big men. Lively and Reid at 157 and 180 were two of the better late-round picks in this draft.

Stan Son (The Athletic)

Son had a masterful draft, starting with Book/Mitchell/Brunson in the first three rounds. He should be among the best in free throws, points, threes, assists, and steals but he's remarkably not awful in terms of turnovers or field goal percentage. This is a prime example of how you can build a fantastic 9-cat team around the guard position.

Dan Besbris (Basketball Ethos)

Dan unfortunately missed the first 10 rounds of the draft, so upon entering the room he had mixed feelings about his autodraft build. He told me he loved Kyrie/KD on the deep turn, but that he would have never gone Jrue/JB in the third and fourth with guys like DeRozan, Holmgren, Vooch, and Maxey still out there. Dan's free-throw shooting will be bad, and his (computer's) middle-to-late-round picks might not have helped support his scoring enough. One Gobert injury or Capela demotion and this squad is hurting mightily in rebounds and blocks, too. Herb Jones, as Dan put it, has no upside in Round 10. 

That will do it, folks! Hope you enjoyed this mock, and be sure to check out the rest of our fantasy hoops content on our SN Fantasy Basketball Cheat Sheet before your draft!