There are plenty of talented NBA Draft prospects as we look ahead to 2020, but none are more well-known — or more polarizing — than LaMelo Ball. The younger brother of Pelicans guard Lonzo and former UCLA guard LiAngelo, LaMelo has matured in time from an undersized guard who shoots too much into a bonafide NBA prospect … whose shot volume and selection remains questionable.

Still, Ball’s an enigma everyone wants more intel on in part because his game has largely been hidden from the public eye. His father removed him from high school at Chino Hills in 2017 when he was bursting on the scene as a five-star prospect, and took him to play professionally overseas. While he spent the past season playing stateside, he’s set to spurn college this upcoming season in the NBL over in Australia. It’s hard to get a read on how good he can be, and just how his game projects to the NBA.

What we know is this: while Ball’s exposure to high-end competition has been mostly hidden from the public eye, and while his father, LaVar, might be certifiably nuts, he’ll still likely enter the pre-draft process next spring as a potential first-round draft pick. For all the question marks that follow him, he’s got size, shooting and sizzle that will earn him plenty of buzz over the next year. Will he be a top-10 pick? Will he be a second-rounder? The answer depends on who you ask, but the talent and frame alone is enough for him to land inside the lottery in our first NBA mock draft for 2020.

2020 NBA mock draft 

Order determined by SportsLine’s projected 2019-20 records for each team