2026
nba
Draft
Guide

This is a win for the Wizards on a number of levels. If they just take Dybantsa and make him the driving force of an already long, athletic, and versatile roster, they’ll instantly become one of the most interesting young teams in the league. Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, Alex Sarr, and Dybantsa are a fun core. And their two best players right now are established veterans—Trae Young and lovable prankster Anthony Davis—whom they can either flip or keep to make a playoff push in the immediate term.

But there’s another intriguing angle to consider. Let’s say you’re a Darryn Peterson optimist and dismiss the impact his chaotic freshman season might have on him long term. Let’s say you see him and Dybantsa as equal talents. Would you not try to convince the Jazz to move up, considering owner Ryan Smith’s long history with Dybantsa, to ensure that they get their guy? By moving back one spot, Washington could land Peterson and a bonus talent.

I still contend that Peterson is the most talented player in this class. I don’t think it’s particularly close, but the fear induced by an utterly bizarre season at Kansas is hard to overlook. Dybantsa, by contrast, is a less risky proposition. 

But purely in the basketball sense, Peterson is the better fit with the Jazz’s existing roster. Adding the Kansas guard’s shot creation, movement shooting, and speed to the core of  Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, and Jaren Jackson Jr. … folks, that is an offensive wagon that can really shoot. I wonder about that group getting to the rim consistently or effectively, but that would be the most fun Jazz team in a long, long time.

Hard to believe that the Grizzlies are in rebuilding mode yet again. Seems like just yesterday that we were laughing at the clips of their young core crowing at the Madison Square Garden crowd after drop-kicking the Knicks in the face. Jaren Jackson Jr. is gone. Desmond Bane left last summer. Ja Morant’s shoes are selling well (my son has a pair and calls them the “tiger scratch shoes”), but it seems he’s relinquished the keys to the franchise. Life really does fly by. [I stare into space for a few seconds.] 

Boozer might not be the kind of superstar to single-handedly bring the Grizzlies back to prominence, but he is the kind of rock-solid all-around talent that could help bring about stability with his skill and immovability. He’ll slot in brilliantly with their in-house talent, spacing for Cedric Coward while also shouldering some facilitator reps to ease the burden on last year’s no. 11 pick. Boozer would also pair well with Zach Edey (if healthy) to form an immensely physical front line. I hadn’t envisioned Memphis being in a position to get Boozer, but I love this fit.

Bulls fans have to be thinking positive thoughts for the first time in a long time. They finally move on from the Arturas Karnisovas era and then manage to climb to the fourth spot in the lottery. This will be the Bulls’ highest pick since they swung on Patrick Williams at four in the 2020 draft. The buzz about Wilson climbing higher than this has been getting louder. I can’t quite get there myself, but that’s more a product of just how damned good this class is than an indictment of his talent. Even if Wilson doesn’t hit his ceiling, he could still end up as a fantastic two-way player. He’ll instantly be one of the best athletes in the league; pairing him with the similarly sized and similarly bouncy Matas Buzelis would be exhilarating.

Poor Indiana. Tayshaun Prince swoops in yet again to swat their dreams into the third row. Steve Ballmer is somewhere dabbing oceans of sweat off his head after watching the lottery broadcast play out. Somehow, the Clippers manage to come away from the Ivica Zubac trade with an exciting young talent, on top of all the other useful stuff they picked up at the deadline. But their midseason acquisition of Darius Garland makes you wonder whether they’ll shy away from the many smaller guards projected in this range. Burries, on the other hand, would be a dynamic partner for Garland who could cross-switch onto scoring guards. The Arizona freshman is a capable offensive player himself, and he could slot in immediately should they decide against re-signing Bennedict Mathurin. Burries is a winner, plain and simple, and he would hit the ground running for the Clippers.

The Nets yet again fail to crack the tippy top of the order, but nabbing Acuff here would be an outcome you could easily live with considering most things for this franchise have been hard to live with. Acuff excels in areas where their slew of picks from last year’s draft struggle. He’s a big-time shooter both off the catch and off the dribble, and he’s one of the higher-IQ players in the class. All in all, he’s the kind of hyper-skilled game manager who will bring some order and a competitive personality to an organization that sorely needs it. Falling to this spot is surely a disappointment for Brooklyn, but Acuff would at least be a step (one of many still to come) in the right direction.

Brown entered last college season with real intrigue; he was seen as one of the players who could potentially rise into the top four. That intrigue dissipated pretty swiftly as his up-and-down play created some worry about who he really is as a player and as his unusual injury situation kept him out of the lineup on many occasions. “It’s hard to know what the Kings are doing” is a sentence that I should just keep ready to paste from my clipboard, but Brown’s talent and upside could pave a clearer-headed path for Vivek Ranadivé and Co. Brown’s recent growth spurt and electric live-dribble skill set could give him real upside. A year from now, we might look at that turbulent college year as the outlier in his trajectory.

Many in the basketball world cackled at New Orleans’s decision to trade its 2026 pick for the 13th spot in last year’s draft because they saw two things on the horizon: the talent in the 2026 class and the losses that were inevitably in store for the Pelicans. Atlanta didn’t ultimately find a golden ticket, as NOLA avoided the catastrophe of finishing at the bottom of the standings, but it still has a chance to fill a need in a draft chock-full of skilled guards. You could argue that it would be hard for the Hawks to go wrong with the guards that are likely to be available in this range, but in this scenario, Flemings would make the most sense to me. For one, he is greased lightning with a basketball in open space, and the Hawks excel at creating fast-break opportunities with their defense. For another, he’s an underrated playmaker who is just as happy flowing within an offense as he is creating for himself.

Many have Wagler higher on their boards than this (I’m one of them), but if the guard order shakes out this way, Dallas could be a good fit. The idea of pairing his fantastic positional size, elite shooting, and versatility with Cooper Flagg is something that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. There aren’t many (if any) players in this class who can provide the shooting gravity that Wagler can while also being able to take the reins as a facilitator. I think he’d make  Cooper’s life easier by supporting him when they share the court and also spelling him. 

Barring some transactional magic, this could be Milwaukee’s best bite at the talent apple in the draft for a while. The Bucks don’t currently have control over a first-round pick until 2031. If Giannis Antetokounmpo decides it’s time to move on, this roster will be rudderless and talent-deprived. If Giannis decides not to move on, it’ll have a rudder but still won’t go anywhere. Less than ideal, but that makes this a “best player available” scenario, or rather “best wager available.” There are definitely more stable options in this range, but Ament’s higher possible outcomes justify this pick. Ament fell short of expectations this past season, and he slid from top-five consideration as a result, but the jumbo-sized, smooth-moving ball handler is still a worthy bet here. Handling the ball at 6-foot-10 is an intriguing enough skill to instill some belief that he could develop into a quality asset. And the Bucks can take the risk given their circumstances.

Sticking with my Philon-to–the Bay prognostication from my first mock a month ago because it feels like a perfect combination of ready-now intangibles and long-term possibilities. His toughness and savvy would allow him to blend in with the absurd amount of experience on this team, and even though he feels like less of a star bet than some of the other highly regarded guards in the class, I don’t expect him to stagnate after getting to the league. Philon grew immensely at Alabama after taking on a significantly bigger role in year two—he was one of the more prolific pick-and-roll operators in all of college basketball and sported impressive efficiency. He also answered questions about his shooting by significantly upping his 3-point attempts per game and hitting on nearly 40 percent of them.

This pick will likely be on the move, considering how deep the Thunder already are. But if Mara slips past Atlanta, which could use a true 5, at no. 8 (and since Chicago leaped into the top four), I could see OKC grabbing the coveted defensive anchor here—especially if it decides that Isaiah Hartenstein’s $28.5 million team option is too pricey with Jalen Williams’s and Chet Holmgren’s maxes kicking in. Aday is massive, but he’s not an unrefined giant. His passing added wrinkles to Michigan’s attack, and he’s shown signs that his one-on-one bag in the interior could grow.

This would be an upside play for Miami, and not a far-fetched one. I expect Swain to gain momentum as the draft process continues because we just don’t see a ton of 6-foot-8 players who can attack open space with a live dribble the way he can. If these playoffs have shown us anything, it’s that rim pressure is still very much invaluable. As a driver, Swain was like electricity finding the ground this past season for Texas, and he’ll continue to become more dangerous and more capable of delivering punishment at the end of those drives as he adds functional strength. His shot will need to improve, but when you combine his downhill force with his sky-high steal percentage and his overlooked ability to really pass once he’s hit the paint, you’ve got a potential star in the right developmental circumstances.

There’s some worry that Lendeborg’s lack of readiness to make the jump to the NBA (some goofy behavior and snickering during postgame press conferences seem to have sparked concern from scouts) and his advanced age could push him into this last lottery spot. But that would be a huge win for the Hornets, who’ll undoubtedly be looking to get bigger and more skilled in the frontcourt. Yaxel would accomplish both goals. He’s the kind of connective passer who would thrive next to Charlotte’s shooters, and his own ability to shoot has improved. He’s also one of the more defensively versatile forwards in the draft. His ceiling might not be astronomically high compared to some of the players that’ll go ahead of him, but Lendeborg’s floor makes him worth this pick.

Now that Bryson Graham has taken over as the lead decision-maker, we can’t count on Chicago leaning toward the hyper-long, bouncy athlete still learning to really play. Everything is on the table, considering this roster has no real identity and its core players don’t exactly fit well together.  

Carr is the type of athletic two-way wing who can fit in anywhere. He can get out and finish on the run, hit movement 3s to space the floor, and create deflections and blocks on defense. That skill set would be valuable even if Graham decided to shift the focus away from Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey as the Bulls’ centerpieces. But it’d be especially helpful right now, as Chicago doesn’t really have a wing contributor of Carr’s archetype after sending Ayo Dosunmu to Minnesota at the trade deadline. Carr wouldn’t erase the memory of dealing Dosunmu for second-rounders, but he’d at least be aloe for the burn.

With Boozer on board with the no. 3 pick, the Grizzlies have some interesting pieces to begin their next era. So now they can swing for the fences with this selection and bring in a blistering guard who just turned 19 years old. Okorie was one of the tougher one-on-one covers in all of college basketball this past season, and slotting his athleticism next to the power and grace of Cedric Coward, with Mt. Edey shadowing over it all, could bring some fun back to Memphis, even if it still won’t be competitive for the time being.

Legitimate question here: Are the Thunder on the most dominant run of talent acquisition in NBA history? How in God’s name do they have two picks in the 10-20 range of this draft? Sam Presti is essentially Bob Odenkirk’s character from I Think You Should Leave, talking about how he has doubles of every classic car and, in some cases, triples (the difference here is that Presti would be telling the truth).

Seeing as they’re on track to repeat as champions and are starting to feel the weight of the large salaries on their books, the Thunder could likely operate with a “next phase” mentality and package this pick with their earlier lottery selection for a chance at one of the shinier prizes of this draft. If they stand pat, Steinbach would be a major pain in opponents’ asses for a team that thrives on physicality, disruption, and paint activity. Steinbach is the most dominant rebounder to come through college basketball in a while, and it seems apt for the team that unleashed Steven Adams’s sharp elbow and tractor-beam hands on the league to draft Adams’s clone. I would say everything is coming full circle, but Presti’s designs don’t seem to resolve; they keep unfolding like a fractal.

I did not expect the Hornets to jell so quickly and post a 25-win improvement over their 2024-25 season. That said, Charlotte still feels like it’s an essential component away from leveling up into a serious team that can throw some punches in a playoff series. Quaintance is a real talent who would project higher than 18 if he had a cleaner health record, so the Hornets would get great value by nabbing him here. He’d inject some much-needed nastiness as a defensive presence, a screener/roller on offense, and an all-encompassing funnel that gobbles up rebounds and punches them back over opponents.

As we saw in the playoffs, the Raptors are a fascinating team—they play incredibly hard and clearly have buy-in from (most of) their key pieces. What they lack is an offensive orchestrator with some real uphill gravity beyond the 3-point line who can also hit the initial read as a passer. Stirtz is a pick-and-roll technician. He’s Borg-like in his process and effectiveness, and he’s one of the only players in this class who can provide ball-screen acumen while also shifting into movement-shooter mode, which would do wonders for a team like Toronto that can already get to the rim and finish. The Raptors have a lot of mouths to feed on offense; they just need a caterer. Even if Stirtz isn’t a star, he’d be helpful in that department.

Graves mania continues to intensify as we approach the draft, to the point where there is speculation that he could climb as high as the teens if the feedback at the combine is strong. It’s a fascinating arc for a player who (get ready to hear this tidbit a BILLION MORE TIMES) redshirted as a freshman and then came off the bench for an OK Santa Clara team. The inaugural playoff run for this iteration of the Spurs has shown that, despite their embarrassment of talent riches, it’d be nice to have some fortification at the 4 spot. Ideally, that player would migrate easily between the worlds of physicality and skill; they need someone who has the connective passing talent and shooting gravity to aid their pack of downhill drivers and some IQ as a help defender. Graves brings those qualities to the table, and joining a team like San Antonio could give him the developmental runway he’d need to ease into the league.

It seems likely that Detroit will look to bolster its guard depth, but it won’t commit unless said guard can shoot the cover off the ball. Anderson is not without his challenges; he’s a smaller guard who’ll need defensive support, and he’ll need to improve his game inside the arc. That said, he was one of the most effective dribble shooters from 3 in all of Division I this past season at Texas Tech. Whether he’s spelling Cade Cunningham or flying next to him, Anderson would add a sigh of relief when teams default to packing the paint to slow down Detroit’s assault on the rim.

There’s an argument to be made that the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Jefferson is the best passer in the entire class, regardless of position. (Just ask his Iowa State teammate Milan Momcilovic, whose 10 percentage point jump in 3-pointers was partly a by-product of playing with Jefferson.) To me, a Jefferson-Philly pairing would be a match made in heaven: His long track record of setting up perimeter scorers fits perfectly with the Sixers’ two incendiary scoring guards. While I do think that he’ll compress into a smaller role than the one he enjoyed at Iowa State, Jefferson’s also no slouch as a scorer himself, and his deflection-heavy defensive approach would feed right into their overall speed advantage.

The Hawks have a heavy need at two crucial positions: They could really use an above-average facilitator with some shooting gravity, and, as much as Onyeka Okongwu has improved, they could really use a true 5 who can protect the rim on one end and tear it down on the other. Despite making the playoffs, Atlanta was bitten by the fact that it was one of the league’s least efficient pick-and-roll teams. It’s unlikely that any difference-making anchors will still be on the board by this point, and if the Hawks use their first pick on one of the star guards at the top of this draft (we have them taking Flemings in this scenario), the sizable Veesaar would make sense here. He’s one of the few bigs in this class who brings both shooting gravity and aggressiveness at the rim, with passing chops that could benefit Atlanta’s bucket-hungry collection of wings.

Restraint and discernment are underrated traits in basketball. They’re typically present in players who operate without ego. For a team like New York, which is already functioning at a playoff level, it’s critical that any newcomer has situational awareness and a solid understanding of timing. Allen is that kind of player. He’s got great perimeter size, he’s enough of a threat from 3, and he has a heightened feel for playmaking and moving without the ball—all without being a defensive liability. He’d be a great way to strengthen New York’s depth.

Cenac is more of a “shows flashes” than “shows consistency” prospect. Optimists see this less as a question of aptitude and more as him simply needing time to develop a clear identity. So this could be an opportunity to grab a talent much lower than he might be if he waited a year to enter the draft. Cenac is physically equipped to play in the NBA; he’s an athletic, 6-foot-11 forward who has shown signs that he could be a productive 4, but the offensive inclinations need some ironing out. He tends to fall in love with his deep midrange jumper in lieu of attacking the basket, and at this point, he’s just not the type of shooter who can justify living that life all of the time. But a more structured role next to elite creators could expedite his development.

Let’s just make one thing abundantly clear: There are no point-and-click options out there to replace or even approximate what Aaron Gordon does. He’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA. The best the Nuggets can hope for if they decide to try to injury-proof themselves (or, God help us, move on from Gordon) this offseason is a serviceable imitation. And on the defensive end, Johnson, who can capably switch onto anyone from a handling wing to a bruising 5, could give Denver some depth. You might say, “Kyle, you fool! Denver already invested in DaRon Holmes and took Zeke Nnaji under the same premise!” While this may be true, neither of those players has the defensive versatility that Johnson does, and rugged Western Conference teams will continue to try to bludgeon the Nuggets until the life force is gone from their current competitive window.

I’ve had more of a “pumped brakes” mentality when it comes to López, because I think where he lands will be really important. The ability to pinpoint useful skills and maximize them is an advantage that some organizations have and some don’t. We’ve seen what Boston has done with Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and Sam Hauser, and I think that López—a power wing whose rim pressure makes him an intriguing prospect—would similarly benefit from the time and structure that the Celtics could give him. If they tidied up the details surrounding his downhill strength and helped his percentage from 3 climb a few points, López could become an asset.

The Wolves are stuck in a flat circle that leads to the same thought every time the draft rolls around: Sure would be nice to add a competent ball handler to this rotation. This is a guard-heavy class, and for that reason, I don’t doubt that most will see this pick as a chance for Minnesota to snag one. I just can’t help but think that the Rob Dillingham experiment will dissuade them from drafting a small and defensively vulnerable player again, especially so soon. Evans fits the Minnesota brand in that he’s lanky, exceedingly confident, and more than willing to get his nose dirty as a help defender around the basket. He’s also a player archetype that the Wolves don’t really have on their roster at this point: a versatile floor spacer with ideal size for a wing.

Unfortunately, basketball teams don’t exist inside a vacuum. You gotta play the teams that are in front of you, and for Cleveland, these playoffs have articulated the need for an imposing “big boy” personality inside the arc—ideally a player who can comfortably operate and capitalize on the opportunities created by the Cavs’ collection of skilled ball handlers. Peat’s combination of terrific feel inside the arc and looming perimeter challenges makes him an unusual player on offense, and he may still head [Billy Madison voice] back to school, but his ability to put the ball on the floor, get to the rim, and/or make plays in the midrange areas where he’d likely be catching passes could be a nice tool for Kenny Atkinson to have on his belt.

Lately, on Group Chat (it’s a podcast!), I’ve taken to shouting out players who are great “spacklers”: guys who patch offensive lulls by accruing points in bunches. Thomas is one of the spackliest spacklers in this draft, and he profiles as someone who could be a dynamic floor spacer and transition target for Cooper Flagg and whatever talent the Mavs add with their lottery pick. Thomas’s odd but effective middle game and unwavering confidence from beyond the arc are the kinds of headaches that teams don’t typically put at the top of the scouting report, but at the end of the night, they wring their hands and say, “If this dude hadn’t somehow gotten 22 points on 55 percent shooting, we would’ve won this one.”