Texas basketball SF Dillon Mitchell picked in top 5 in NBA Mock Draft

The 2022 NBA Draft is likely going to be rather uneventful as far as former Texas basketball players in this class are concerned. Texas does have a few players entering the 2022 NBA Draft pool, but none really look like they have a realistic shot of getting drafted this summer.

There are three former Longhorns players in this draft class that theoretically could be picked up. Those three are senior guard Courtney Ramey, redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones, and junior power forward Dylan Disu. Of that trio, Ramey really looks like the only one with any sort of shot of even getting drafted in the second round.

But the prominence of Longhorns players in the NBA Draft is likely to change for head coach Chris Beard and this program heading into next season. Texas is bringing in a very highly-touted recruiting class that features three blue-chip commits, two of which hold the coveted five-star rating.

One of those incoming freshman and former five-star recruits, Montverde Academy small forward Dillon Mitchell, is even getting hyped up as a potential high lottery pick for the 2023 NBA Draft. In ESPN’s latest 2023 NBA Mock Draft (insider content), Mitchell was even projected to go in the top five.

Texas basketball has a projected lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft with 5-Star SF Dillon Mitchell

This ESPN mock draft had Mitchell going at No. 4 overall in the lottery to the Houston Rockets. That slots Mitchell only behind ASVEL big man Victor Wembanyama, G-League Elite point guard Scoot Henderson, and Arkansas guard Nick Smith in this mock draft (in order from first to third).

ESPN mentioned that Mitchell’s draft stock is trending up about as much as any other to-be college freshmen in the projected 2023 class. And he is noted to be “blowing away” college and NBA scouts alike.

That is evident in the fact that Mitchell is projected to be the second college player off the board in this mock draft.

Moreover, this ESPN mock draft has Mitchell as the only Longhorns player picked in the 2023 class. They neglected to include the likes of five-star Dallas-Kimball point guard Arterio Morris, super senior guard Marcus Carr, and four-star Northfield Mount Hermon point guard Rowan Brumbaugh, among others, as Longhorns players on next season’s projected roster that could climb their way to relevance in this draft class next offseason.

Mitchell is the highest-rated commit/signee in the Longhorns 2022 class. He and Morris helped to get the Longhorns 2022 class ranked as one of the top 10 in the country for this cycle as they are both rated as top 20 prospects.