Ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft, rumors are swirling around the Charlotte Hornets, including the notion the franchise is desperate to select James Wiseman — even to the point they would trade up to get him.

The Locked On NBA Podcast put together an NBA Mock Draft. During it, each host of a Locked On NBA team acted as the GM for the teams they respectively cover. Locked On Hornets Podcast host Walker Mehl selected for the Hornets. He did something a bit unusual with his pick, opting to pass on Wiseman in order to select another big man going unnoticed by man.

Walker Mehl: Ultimately, we decided to go with Okungwu over James Wiseman because Onyeka Okungwu can switch on the perimeter better than what James Wiseman can. I think Okungwu, because of his ability to get out of the floor fast, does have some rim protection in his game. He's so closely compared to Bam Adebayo constantly. I think defensively, you look at the number of blocks per game that each of them were able to get their lone year in college, Okungwu actually proved to be maybe a better rim protector; certainly a better shot blocker than what Bam Adebayo was.

Even if he doesn't switch as well as Bam Adebayo did. Okungwu was still pretty good at it and better than what James Wiseman could do. So I think Okungwu can still be effective in drop coverage despite being a smaller big, that's why we decided to select Okungwu number three overall with the Charlotte Hornets.

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Josh Lloyd (Locked On Fantasy Basketball Podcast) also agreed with the selection.

Josh Lloyd: This is exactly what I would have done if I was Charlotte. I think that there is a legitimate chance that he is the best big man in this class. He moves well, protects the rim, I think there is some passing upside, there's some shooting upside there as well, he can switch and that's exactly what you want out of a big man. You don't need to be 7'1″ and then not be able to move on the perimeter like some other big man that we might talk about later. I think he fits perfectly. He has some interchangeability with PJ Washington there as well. If I hadn't seen one of those point guards around, Kilian Hayes is there so I may have gone with him in this case, but I can't complain about the Okungwu pick. I don't think it will necessarily go down this way, but I love what the guys at Locked On Hornets did.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/51c5r034YY6X7DCbTVDdYP?si=u7e77xW1QDiovXedrbPW1Q