With media coverage high on the run up to this year’s June 26 NBA draft, Wake Forest University sports economics expert Todd McFall is available to talk about the draft from a variety of angles.

McFall has been quoted in national news outlets on NBA branding, bracketology, and equity in sports drafts and tournaments. He is the author of The (Peculiar) Economics of NCAA Basketball.

1. The draft as a way to hire players on the cheap. In another year, the NBA will renegotiate the share of basketball revenue that the owners and players split. The new TV contract the league negotiated with ESPN will nearly triple revenues. For teams, the draft remains an effective way to keep costs down, as veteran players will seek big raises under the soon-to-be negotiated collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

2. Big names don’t necessarily make the best draft picks.High octane, aggressive basketball is causing more knee, hip and leg injuries. Teams will draft players this summer who might seem inconsequential or easily forgotten but if they can take stress off of starters by providing consistent play night in night out during a season or make a contribution at a key moment in a playoff series, then all the hard work invested in scouting such a player pays off in a big way.

3. The upside of drafting highly skilled athletes continues to outweigh emotional maturity. As the value of players with potential multi-dimensional skill sets increase, NBA teams continue to draft young, more athletic players with one or two years' worth of experience over less athletic, more emotionally mature players who stayed in college longer. Teams will likely place even more value on un-coachable characteristics like length and speed and hope that fundamentals and basketball knowledge can be learned.

4. International exposure is affecting the draft. More good players are playing in other leagues. Recent history has shown that teams that find them (Gasol in Spain, Parker in France, Ginobli in Argentina, Nowitski in Germany) can benefit on-court from wise picks. International players’ value is growing off-court because more foreign fans are becoming aware of the NBA, and drafting such players is a good way to market teams to international audiences.

5. Expanding gambling markets is very good. A larger regulated gambling market will allow interested fans who want to grab a financial stake in the action a more secure environment in which to do so. Because well-functioning gambling markets have the ability to detect when a point shaving event might be occurring, the legitimacy of the NBA’s product becomes harder to question, a tremendous residual benefit to the league.

McFall is available for interviews before and after the NBA draft.