2016 NBA Draft Prospects: Top-Rated Players Heading into Draft Lottery

The future of the NBA changes Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET when the 2016 NBA draft lottery sorts the picks for the upcoming draft.

More couldn’t be at stake. Not only do a wide range of teams from the Philadelphia 76ers to Boston Celtics and beyond have a shot at the top pick, a team such as the Los Angeles Lakers could lose theirs depending on how the pingpong balls fall.

It’s only fitting, then, that the 2016 class trumpets enough talent to make this all possible. In fact, some might classify this as a top-heavy class, which works out when one begins to research the top-rated players.

Below, let’s take a look at a brief sampling of the top players in the class based on the latest big boards from ESPN.com’s Chad Ford, CBSSports.com’s Sam Vecenie and Sports’ Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo.

Top-Rated Players From Notable Experts

The Big 3 Ben Simmons, LSU

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Ben Simmons hasn’t budged as the top player in the class for a long time. 

For good reason, too, because Simmons is an incredible prospect, a pro-ready forward at 6’10” and 239 pounds with a ridiculous batch of upside simply because he could still work on his jumper.

Even the jumper is a small issue, too. Simmons only needed one season with LSU to impress by averaging 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 56.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from deep.

Simmons is such a lock as the best player in the class that he didn’t even show up at the combine. Even better—it didn’t hurt him at all, according to Ford:

That’s not unheard of — Emmanuel Mudiay stayed away last year — and it didn’t seem to have an real effect on Simmons’ draft stock. I spoke to numerous NBA executives and the majority still believe he’s the best player in the draft and the favorite to be picked first on draft night.

Once we see who actually wins the lottery on Tuesday night, we’ll …

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