The NBA Draft is a fascinating phenomenon, a true craps-shoot with immensely high stakes and wild unpredictability. But, as scouts improve their evaluating processes and prospects continue to elevate their floors as a whole, it's become increasingly common to see valuable contributors across draft boards. Of course, there will always be a horrible miss or two in every draft class (*cough* Johnny Davis *cough*).
Something else that the basketball world has come to learn, though, is that it can take several years to see the true promise of a young player. We've seen plenty of examples of slow starts who would go on to become All-Stars a la Jimmy Butler, Mikal Bridges, and Jalen Brunson. There's also been cases of young bulls who come out the gates fiercely but fail to develop their game into true stardom, like Kelly Oubre Jr. and Deandre Ayton.
Players from the 2019 NBA Draft class, like Zion Williamson, are about to enter their fifth season. Most of them that have made it this far into their careers are on their second or third contracts. The 2019 class, led by Zion, his Duke teammates, and Ja Morant, was extremely hyped coming into the NBA, and rightfully so. But so far, is it fair to say that this group has actually been a bit disappointing compared to their expectations heading into the league?
The 2019 NBA Draft class hasn't panned out as hoped
Don't get me wrong. Both Zion Williamson and Ja Morant have been absolutely incredible. As expected, Zion is a walking mismatch who is both too quick for true bigs and too strong for perimeter players to try to stop. He's turned his burgeoning playmaking skills into legitimate point forward abilities. Even his jumpshot has been more reliable than initially anticipated.
Unfortunately, there are a couple of areas where Zion hasn't met prospects. Chiefly, he hasn't been nearly the defensive player that many projected him to be. With the Blue Devils, he was a singular force on that end of the court, capable of flying all over the floor to deter attackers both on the perimeter and in the paint. That hasn't been the case in the NBA, and he's been more of a liability on D than a positive contributor in most cases. He's absolutely still capable of being a monumental defensive player, and has shown incredible flashes. What's been holding him back is actually my next point.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about Zion's career so far is his clear lack of peak conditioning. He's still been an objectively dominant player when he's on the court, but that makes it even more disheartening to think of the player he could be. It doesn't take a professional nutrionist or personal trainer to know that Zion's been above his ideal playing weight for the majority of his career. This summer, though, it seems like he's significantly slimmed down. If his offseason weight sticks, it could mean a whole new Zion and a much more dangerous New Orleans Pelicans squad.
As for Ja Morant, he's essentially been everything that was promised: an uber-athletic score-first point guard who's capable of amazing physical feats and defense-busting floor command. His jumper is still a little erratic and his defense could use some work, but both of those faults were expected of him coming out of college.
With both Zion and Ja, the most glaring hole in their careers so far has been their physical availability. Between the two of them, they've missed 340 games through five seasons. If that trend continues, it's difficult to envision both of them reaching the peaks that many are expecting from them. Let's all hope that's not the case.
Outside of the top two picks, the rest of the 2019 draft class has one combined All-Star appearance: Darius Garland in 2021-22. Since then, he hasn't replicated that level of success yet, as has been the case for a few different members of the 2019 draft. Garland, RJ Barrett, De'Andre Hunter, Tyler Herro, Brandon Clarke, Jordan Poole, Keldon Johnson, Nicolas Claxton, and Terance Mann have all shown flashes of star potential, but have stagnated in their developments as of late.
Aside from those names, there are few viable NBA players left in the class. Coby White, Jaxson Hayes, Rui Hachimura, Cam Reddish, PJ Washington, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Matisse Thybulle, Grant Williams, Cody Martin, Daniel Gafford, Bol Bol, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Jalen McDaniels are the only rotation players remaining, and some of them are teetering on the edge of falling out of the league too.
There's still time for this class to turn it around. Ja will be back from injury next season, Zion just had the healthiest campaing of his career and has significantly cut weight, and players like Coby White, Tyler Herro, and PJ Washington are having some late-stage spikes in development. But, they'll have their work cut out for them to meet the historic expectations placed upon this class.