Suns or Hornets Mocked to Land Stanford Star in NBA Draft

On Monday, the NBA conducted its annual draft lottery to determine the selection order for the NBA Draft next month. And with teams now knowing where they will pick, it is time to begin putting together a draft board of potential picks. But that also means that the mock drafts are rolling out like hotcakes, with both ESPN and NBA.com releasing a post-lottery mock draft.

Stanford basketball star, Maxime Raynaud, has seen his draft stock rise considerably over the past few months-especially after he put together a stellar senior season in which he averaged 20.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists. At one point it was unknown if he would even be drafted, but now, the mock drafts have him as a highly touted prospect.

NBA.com's mock draft via Bleacher Report projects Raynaud to get drafted No. 29th overall by the Phoenix Suns--an ideal fit for the 7-foot Frenchman. After trading Jusuf Nurkić to the Charlotte Hornets, the Suns were left with questions at the center position that plagued them for the rest of the season.

From then on, the Suns struggled en route to finishing 36-46, which included a 3-10 stretch in February.

Adding Raynaud would immediately alleviate that concern, giving the Suns a two-way big who could be in the mix to start right away. At 22-years-old, Raynaud is on the older side for a rookie and can be seen as more polished compared to some of the younger guys that get drafted.

As for the ESPN mock draft, Raynaud is projected to get drafted No. 34 overall by the Charlotte Hornets. Nurkić is under contract for next season while current starter, Mark Williams, has a team option that the Hornets can choose to exercise, meaning that if Raynaud falls to Charlotte, his path to starting year one could be much more difficult.

But what Raynaud brings, Charlotte is in dire need of. Nurkic is a solid defender, but he lacks consistent offensive production. Williams, on the other hand, is more of a two-way player but his versatility gives the option of shifting him to power forward, while Raynaud potentially takes over as the starting center.

But if there is one thing that both Phoenix and Charlotte have in common, it's that they desperately need a spark. Since losing to the Bucks in the 2021 finals, the Suns have lacked postseason success.

With minimal draft capital for the forseeable future, they will need to make sure they have a good draft this time around to make up for it. The Hornets, who have not made the playoffs since 2016, are looking to find more stars to build around star guard, Lamelo Ball.

Wherever Raynaud ends up, his impact will be much needed. Taking the college basketball world by storm this past season--even being in the same types of conversations as projected No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg, for parts of the season, Raynaud has proven that he has the potential to be a star in the league.

If he is able to live up to expectations, any team that drafts him could be very happy with the player they are getting.