Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston among projected first-round NBA Draft picks

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On3 image — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston both came to Kentucky as five-star freshmen. Now, before playing a single regular season game, they’re both projected as first-round 2023 NBA Draft picks.

The Athletic‘s Sam Vecenie and Sporting News’ Kyle Irving both dropped updated mock drafts over the last 24 hours. In them, Wallace is considered a future Top 10 pick by both publications with Livingston expected to land in the late-first round. Vecenie’s mock draft extends to the second round, where two more Kentucky players made the cut: Oscar Tshiebwe (No. 39) and Jacob Toppin (No. 55).

Wallace is projected to go 9th overall to the Washington Wizards by The Athletic and 10th overall by Sporting News. Livingston comes in at 28th to the Houston Rockets by The Athletic and 27th by Sporting News. Notably, Kentucky sophomore forward Daimion Collins did not make either mock draft.

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Hello! Updated 2023 NBA Mock Draft is up.

This is where the class sits heading into college basketball season. Scouts are very enthused by the top of the draft, and anxiously awaiting to see who emerges after the top group. https://t.co/RE8NyRMW3U pic.twitter.com/2RWTw5VXYM
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) October 27, 2022

Looking at other mocks, ESPN released its own earlier in the month. The overall results are somewhat similar, but there were some interesting differences. Draft expert Jonathan Givony slotted Wallace at No. 13, Livingston at No. 27, Tshiebwe at No. 39, and Collins at No. 42, although with no Toppin to be found.

Wallace has long been thought to be a future lottery pick due to his defensive tendencies and offensive ceiling while Livingston has likewise been considered a future first-rounder due to his NBA-ready size and budding perimeter skills. Tshiebwe has been placed in the same range for about a year now, consistently falling in the early-to-mid second round. Collins and Toppin are the wildcards as we sit a couple of weeks out from the season opener, but they should both have plenty of opportunities to improve their stock this year with the draft still several months away.