NBA Mock Draft: Raptors trade into top 3; Heat land star in blockbuster move

NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama (Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports)
NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama (Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports)
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NBA Draft
NBA Draft prospect Jett Howard (Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

13. Toronto Raptors – Jett Howard, F, Michigan

After making a big trade (in our hypothetical deal, they traded Pascal Siakam in a package for the No. 3 pick), the Toronto Raptors will now continue to build around Scoot Henderson (who they selected earlier in this NBA Draft) and Scootie Barnes. One player that the team could look to target is Jett Howard. He’s a 3-point shooting sniper that could make some sense if the Raptors do end up losing Gary Trent Jr. in free agency as most seem to believe.

Howard averaged 14 points on 37 percent shooting from 3-point range (seven attempts per contest) during his freshman season at Michigan. He’s viewed as one of the better and most developed shooters in this year’s NBA Draft class. At 6-foot-8, he offers positional flexibility as well.

However, he’ll have to prove that he can be a positive player on the defensive end of the floor. He struggled mightily on that end of the floor in college and that could end up holding him back from being an eventual lottery pick.

That said, I believe he does check some boxes as a prospect that the Raptors could be looking for at this point in the NBA Draft.