Barclays Center to host 2022 NBA Draft on June 23

The NBA has announced the Barclays Center will host the 2022 NBA Draft on June 23. The league also announced Chicago will host both the NBA Draft Combine (May 16-22) and the NBA Draft Lottery (May 17). Ticket information for the Draft will be announced at a later date.

Aside from the 2020 NBA Draft which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Barclays Center has been the host arena for the NBA Draft since 2013. Before that, the annual event was held at the Prudential Center in Newark for two years. In the 2011 NBA Draft held in Newark, Kyrie Irving was selected No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Nets also hosted the 1996 NBA Draft, generally seen as the greatest NBA Draft, at Continental AIrlines Arena. That draft featured Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Stephon Marbury.

The format for the 2022 NBA Draft will be the same as it has been in previous years. The players will be able to hear their names called, walk across the stage, and grab their team’s draft cap before they embark on their NBA careers (or get traded.)

Unlike the 2021 NBA Draft — a draft that had the Nets select a total of five players — the team won’t have nearly as many selections for the 2022 NBA Draft in June. As things currently stand, Brooklyn will pick at No. 22, using the 76ers unprotected first rounder. But the Nets can opt to hold off a year and take the 76ers first in the 2023 NBA Draft part of the James Harden-for-Ben Simmons trade. No word on when the Nets have to make the decision on which year to take the pick.

The 2022 NBA Draft is seen as mediocre per Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. He wrote in February...

The 2022 NBA Draft is not considered a particularly strong one at the moment by evaluators. The top of the class is solid, not spectacular. The middle of the lottery has an enormous number of questions. There is more uncertainty regarding players in the back half of the first round than I can remember in a draft.

There’s no general consensus among draftniks on who the Nets should take, but three of Duke’s young players have been linked to the Nets in recent mocks. That would be Mark Williams, the Blue Devils 7-footer; Wendell Moore, a 6’5” wing; and Trevor Keels, a 6’4” combo guard.

The Nets own pick, sent to Houston in the original Harden trade, is currently 16th. Brooklyn has no pick in the second round and no cash considerations available to buy one. The full $5.8 million the Nets had to sweeten deals was exhausted in the DeAndre Jordan salary dump.