THE 2023 NBA Draft has come and gone after being held on Friday morning, as 58 more players entered the world’s premier basketball league.

The number one pick was a foregone conclusion heading in, given the star power provided from Victor Wembanyama, but the remainder of the field delivered plenty of surprises. Some prospects rose while others slid further than expected in eye-catching fashion, with a number of teams throwing curveballs.

With that in mind, Rookie Me Central will unpack three of the biggest surprises of the draft, with plenty of unexpected selections making proceedings even more exciting.

Coulibaly caps off massive rise with top-10 selection

This time last year, Bilal Coulibaly was barely in the draft conversation, and even a few months ago, he was expected to fall to the 30’s. However, the Washington Wizards traded with the Indiana Pacers to move up one spot and selected Coulibaly with pick seven. It was the culmination of a massive couple of months for the guard, who impressed during his time alongside Wembanyama with the Boulogne-Levallois Metropolitans 92. His ceiling only became clearer during the final patch of his team’s season, which excited several sides. However, it was Washington that pulled the trigger, and although he may be a longer-term project in comparison to his peers, Coulibaly appears to have some of the best potential of anyone in the draft class.

Whitmore slides down to 20

You would be excused for thinking Cam Whitmore secretly withdrew from the draft just before proceedings kicked off, because although many people had the forward as a consensus top 10 pick, his name took far longer to be read than that. Whitmore slid all the way down to pick 20, where he was selected by the Houston Rockets. Rumours swirled surrounding his medical report, but nothing has been confirmed and it had not been an issue in the past. Regardless, the Rockets claimed quite the steal here and capped off a successful haul with one of the biggest bargains of the process.

Howard hops into top 11

The Orlando Magic were widely expected to add some more perimeter presence to their team with pick 11, having acquired guard Anthony Black earlier in the first round. Gradey Dick was the obvious option here, but instead, they opted to select Jett Howard, instead backing the potential he has to become a balanced player alongside their future pieces in Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Jett, son of former NBA player Juwan, can still offer shooting, so it could be a strong selection for the team, despite not being predicted by many coming in.