Looking back at the 2020 NBA Draft, I still find myself shaking my head at some of the twists and turns that night. As someone who's covered basketball for over a decade, I thought I had a pretty good read on how things would unfold, but the actual results delivered several genuine shockers that have continued to ripple through the league. The draft's biggest surprises weren't just about who went where, but about the fascinating narratives that emerged, particularly around certain players finding themselves in situations where they're facing longtime rivals - and I know how much those matchups mean to them personally.
The Anthony Edwards selection at number one wasn't exactly surprising, but what followed certainly was. The Warriors passing on James Wiseman at number two? That had me texting fellow analysts in disbelief. Golden State had been linked to Wiseman for months, with most mock drafts showing near-unanimous agreement. Instead, they went with the 7'1" center who'd played just three college games. What made this particularly fascinating was how it set up Wiseman to immediately face his longtime rival from high school days, Onyeka Okongwu, who went sixth to Atlanta. These two big men have been going at it since their teenage years, and now they'd be competing on the NBA stage. I've spoken with people close to both players, and the intensity of their rivalry is something special - it's one of those background stories that makes following the draft so compelling year after year.
Then there was the Tyrese Haliburton slide to twelfth. This one still baffles me. Here was a player with first-team All-Big 12 honors, fantastic court vision, and efficiency numbers that jumped off the page - 50% from the field, 42% from three during his sophomore season at Iowa State. Yet he kept falling while teams reached for players with far more question marks. When Sacramento finally grabbed him, the relief was palpable even through the virtual draft broadcast. What's emerged since is another fascinating rivalry storyline - Haliburton now finds himself regularly matched up against his childhood friend and competitive counterpart, Desmond Bane, who went surprisingly late at 30th overall. These two have been pushing each other since their AAU days, and now they're bringing that same competitive fire to NBA courts.
The Patrick Williams selection at fourth overall by Chicago raised plenty of eyebrows in the draft room I was watching from. The Florida State forward had started exactly zero games in college, averaging a modest 9 points and 4 rebounds. Yet Chicago saw something special - that raw athleticism and defensive versatility that's since begun to blossom. Sometimes the biggest surprises in the draft aren't about players falling, but about teams seeing potential where others see risk. Williams represented exactly that kind of gamble, and early returns suggest it might pay off handsomely for the Bulls.
What continues to strike me about that night is how these surprise picks have created new competitive dynamics across the league. When you follow these players' journeys closely, you recognize that for many of them, reaching the NBA means continuing rivalries that began years earlier on smaller courts with fewer witnesses. There's something profoundly human about seeing these young men pursue their dreams while simultaneously reigniting old competitions. The 2020 draft may have been unconventional in its virtual format and surprising in its outcomes, but it ultimately delivered what drafts always do - new stories, renewed rivalries, and fresh reasons to stay invested in how these careers unfold.
