DALLAS — Hope springs eternal for basketball fans far and wide as the 2023 NBA Draft looms. And, frankly, many questions abound as well.
While the top selection in this year's draft is a guaranteed, 100% sure thing (more on that in a minute), there's very little consensus on what might follow as the 77th edition of the league's annual draft unfolds.
Who else will be picked in the top 10? Will any big trades take place over the course of the night? Will ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski really be able to refrain from revealing the selections before they're announced this year, as promised?
We don't own a crystal ball, so we unfortunately cannot answer any of the above burning NBA Draft definitively.
What we can do, however, is let you know when, how and where to watch it all play out.
What time does the 2023 NBA Draft begin?
Coverage of the 2023 NBA Draft is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday, June 22, from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The San Antonio Spurs, who boast the No. 1 pick in the draft, will officially go on the clock shortly thereafter. There is very little doubt that the Spurs will use that pick to select generational talent Victor Wembanyama, a 7-foot-5 French phenom who is widely regarded as the best NBA prospect since LeBron James, who himself described the 19-year-old prodigy as "an alien."
How can I watch?
The first round of the 2023 NBA Draft will air on WFAA/ABC starting at 7 p.m. with coverage anchored by "SportsCenter" host Kevin Negandhi and color analysis from Stephen A. Smith.
Both the first and second rounds of the draft will air on ESPN, which will start its coverage beginning with a red carpet event starting at 4 p.m. CST. Anchoring ESPN's coverage is "NBA Today" host Malika Andrews, who'll be joined by ESPN analysts Jay Bilas and JJ Redick, reporters Andraya Carter and Monica McNutt, and insiders Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks. ESPN's coverage will also be available for viewing on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
If you're watching ABC's coverage of the draft via antenna and want the clearest possible picture of the draft, the below video will walk you through how to rescan your TV and do so. (You can find a more thorough step-by-step guide on how to rescan your TV here.)
Our partners at the Locked On Podcast Network are also hosting live analysis of the draft on their Locked On NBA and Locked On NBA Big Board channels on YouTube. That broadcast will be hosted by Locked On Mavs/Locked On NBA host Nick Angstadt and Locked On NBA Big Board host Leif Thelin, with hosts from across the network's NBA channels and additional draft experts checking in throughout the night.
When do the Dallas Mavericks pick?
Great question! It's a little complicated, actually.
The Mavericks tanked their way to the No. 10 pick in this year's draft, and avoided surrendering this year's lottery-protected pick that it still owed the New York Knicks for Kristaps Porzingis by resting its star players at the end of the season. The team was also fined by the league for doing so.
There's rampant speculation, however, that the Mavericks are less interested in selecting a new player with the No. 10 pick than they are with the idea of using that pick as an asset in a trade to build a stronger roster around star players Luka Doncic and, if he re-signs with the Mavs this offseason, Kyrie Irving.
Even if the Mavericks make an official selection when they're on the clock in Thursday's draft, it's possible that could just be for show, and that the player selected in that slot could be flipped in a trade to be announced after the fact.
There are a lot of moving parts at play, basically.
Where is the official Dallas Mavericks watch party?
Mavericks fans looking to watch the 2023 NBA Draft in the presence of fellow MFFLs on Thursday, June 2022, can do so at the team's official watch party at The Echo Lounge in Dallas' Design District, located at 1323 N. Stemmons Freeway.
The party will double as the live radio broadcast home for a draft show that will be airing simultaneously on the Mavericks' radio home of 97.1 KEGL-FM The Freak. Confirmed guests for that broadcast include Mavs radio play-by-play announcer Chuck Cooperstein, Mavericks TV color analyst Jeff “Skin” Wade, longtime NBA beat writer and Mavs insider Marc Stein, Mavs.com digital content manager Bobby Karalla and other personalities from The Freak.
Other party perks include a free Mavs swag bag for the first 200 fans in attendances, performances from the Mavs' in-game arena entertainment team, a fan combine activation, a Mavs pop-up shop, food trucks, photo opportunities, drink specials and more.
Doors to the watch party open at 5:30 p.m., with the broadcast kicking off at 6:30 p.m.