NBA insider makes case for Kentucky's Reed Sheppard at No. 1 on NBA Draft boards

The 2024 NBA Draft kicks off on Wednesday in New York and it’s safe to say that this year’s prospect pool does not have a consensus frontrunner or clear potential superstar No. 1 overall pick.

The big boards and mock drafts of evaluators are all over the place ahead of draft day. But The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor has Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard as the top prospect on his big board despite overall concerns about Sheppard’s size and defensive ability at the next level.

O’Connor recently joined J. Kyle Mann on The Bill Simmons Podcast and explained his rationale behind Sheppard leading the pack in his eyes. Breaking down how his deficiencies aren’t as alarming as they may seem to others.

“He’s only a quarter of an inch shorter than Stephen Curry, his wingspan is only a quarter of an inch shorter than Stephen Curry, he weighed in the same as Steph when Steph was at the combine,” O’Connor said. “Steph obviously went up to 190-195 pounds. So he’s small but he’s not much smaller than Stephen Curry, so I think I think in the right situation and right environment you’re talking about a guy who had five steals five times this season.”

“There’s only three other guys in college basketball who did that all year long.”

Defensively, Sheppard also blocked three, three-point attempts in the final two minutes of three different games last season. With O’Connor believing that his defensive clutch play and instincts can overcome his size on that end of the floor, especially on the right team.

“I think Shepherd offers enough intangibles on defense that yes, even though he’s smaller and yes, even though he’s gonna get targeted, environment’s everything. And ultimately if he lands on the Spurs and you got Victor [Wembanyama] back there and with other long-arm defenders, I don’t know how much that’s gonna matter when you talk about a guy that hit over 50% of his threes this year,” O’Connor explained.

The Spurs have the No. 4 and No. 8 overall picks in the 2024 NBA Draft, but they aren’t the only team that could use Sheppard’s elite shooting ability. Which far outshines his defensive skillset and is nearly impossible to match from a production standpoint in this year’s draft class.

“25th percentile in everything catch and shoot, un-guarded, dribble pull up from a mid-range, from three. I think Reed’s dribble game is a little bit underrated,” O’Connor said. “Like he’s got a pull-up from mid-range where he can do it pretty easily out of his dribble motion. It’s not like there’s a stop and needs to gather, he does it seamlessly when he’s handling the ball. He’s a great passer in the open court.”

Simmons and O’Connor believe that Sheppard’s passing ability has shades of Mark Price and Lonzo Ball. And although he may not have a superstar ceiling like other prospects in this year’s draft class, his offensive ability and intangibles likely translating to the NBA has Sheppard sitting atop of O’Connor’s big board.

“I just said screw it, I just did it. I put him at one because it’s the same logic that you were talking about Bill, who were the guys that I think are going to be good? Shepherd I think is going to be really good, [Donovan] Clingan I think is gonna be really good, and [Stephon] Castle I think are gonna be really good. So I put them one, two, three on my board and I feel good about it,” O’Connor concluded.

The 2024 NBA Draft kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday at Barclays Center, airing on ESPN and ABC.