2026 NBA Draft Tracker

The Wizards endured three straight 64-plus-loss campaigns and eight straight losing seasons for a chance to add a prospect like Dybantsa. He checks all the boxes of an elite prospect, from the measurables to the consistent track record of production. He becomes the centerpiece of a promising young core with Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Bilal Coulibaly and Tre Johnson, and when paired with Trae Young and Anthony Davis should position the Wizards to get back to the postseason sooner rather than later.

Utah would’ve loved to have the choice between Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, but should be thrilled to land the one who fell to them at No. 2. Peterson gives the Jazz a guard with legitimate All-NBA potential and a potential scoring champion in time. There’s a strong case to be made that the Jazz got the best player in this draft. The head-to-head showings between Peterson and Dybantsa in college, high school and at USA basketball almost always tilted Peterson’s way.

Some will question Boozer’s ceiling, in large part to the aesthetics of his game. But for Memphis, an organization intent on avoiding a long rebuild, Boozer is the perfect player to have fall to them. He and Zach Edey could maul opposing frontcourts with their physicality and form a unique long-term partnership. This is the type of player you can build your franchise around, the consummate winner and worker that teammates and fans will love.

Wilson has been likely to be Chicago-bound ever since the lottery saw the Bulls jump to No. 4. Freakishly athletic with an intensity and joy that is hard to find, Wilson embodies new Bulls executive Bryson Graham’s “SLAP” moniker: size, length, athleticism, physicality. Suddenly, there are real reasons for excitement for an organization that has been stuck in purgatory for years.

Wagler effectively allows the Clippers to operate on parallel timelines, giving them an ultra-talented potential point guard of the future who carried Illinois to the Final Four and has the positional size and shooting ability to play next to Darius Garland and help the Clippers compete in the playoffs next season. There are concerns about his lacking athletic burst and slight frame, but his developmental trajectory is remarkable, and it takes a cold-blooded star to score 46 points on the road at Purdue.

The Nets front office has often heavily leaned on high school and grassroots evaluations. In those settings, Brown was seen as the best point guard in this class. If he regains that form after an up-and-down season at Louisville, Nets fans will forget quickly about falling in the lottery. But the frustrating moments with decision-making and injury woes at Louisville create some risk here in spite of the upside.

The Kings get their guy. Acuff has long been coveted in Sacramento, in part because of familiarity between his father and Kings general manager Scott Perry dating back to Perry coaching the elder Acuff at Eastern Kentucky. He’ll immediately be the driving force of the Kings’ offense, capable of taking over games with his scoring and playmaking. The question is whether you can build a winner around a small guard like Acuff who has historically struggled on the defensive end.

The Hawks found success last season after trading Trae Young playing without a traditional point guard and using bigger ballhandlers like Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson who boosted their defense. Flemings doesn’t have great size, but he’s a ball hawk defensively and an unselfish playmaker for others who lives in the paint. If his outside shot continues to develop, watch out. But if it doesn’t, can Flemings and Daniels fit together as two middling outside shooters?

New Mavericks coach Dusty May is bringing one of the pieces of his national champion Michigan team with him. This is a bit ambitious for my taste, but Johnson drew rave reviews behind the scenes and publicly from May all season for his incredible work ethic, competitiveness and approach … and his stock had risen throughout the predraft process. He has the size to play either power forward or center and should fit nicely with Cooper Flagg in Dallas. It’s just a question of whether his ceiling is high enough to warrant going this high.

Burries is a really nice piece to help jump-start the Bucks’ rebuild after trading Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s a two-way player who can play with and without the ball and is a confident shotmaker. He could have a Desmond Bane–type career if things break right. The Bucks get the best player left on my board at this stage.

If there was a place that could afford to draft a guy who turns 24 before he’ll make his NBA debut, it’s Golden State, which is attempting to make one more run building around Stephen Curry. Lendeborg should be an instant-impact player, someone who can guard multiple positions, make perimeter shots and dominate in transition. And Lendeborg going to a situation where he’ll have plenty of proven veterans around him to help him mature is perhaps the best-case scenario for the Michigan product. Still, the track record for players this old returning lottery-level value is very poor.

What better way to try to combat Victor Wembanyama in the postseason than drafting the biggest player in the class? I’m bullish on Mara’s two-way potential at the next level after he put it all together as a junior at Michigan. His ability to protect the rim gives him a path to early minutes, but the feel for the game and passing chops gives him high offensive upside playing off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Plus, Mara gives Oklahoma City some flexibility regarding Isaiah Hartenstein’s looming $28.5 million team option.

There’s no denying Steinbach’s production, stacking double-doubles at Washington. But while Charlotte needed a big man to add to its rotation, I’m not sure Steinbach ever emerges into a starter. He’s a bit of a tweener defensively. Is he mobile enough to guard power forwards or strong and bouncy enough to protect the rim as a center? This is a high-floor, lower-ceiling pick.

The most glaring hole for Detroit was adding playmaking alongside Cade Cunningham in the backcourt. The Pistons moved up a few spots to get Okorie, who averaged more than 23 points per game this season as a freshman at Stanford. Detroit has the personnel and positional size to somewhat insulate Okorie size-wise, which was critical given his slight frame. Don’t be surprised if he is a factor in Detroit’s playoff rotation as a rookie.

For the second straight year, Toronto picks up a jack-of-all-trades forward that analytics models loved. Last year, that was Collin Murray-Boyles, who ended up earning significant minutes in the playoffs as a rookie. This year, it’s Graves, who graded out in some models as a top-five-to-10 player in the class. He’s a unique player who’ll have to convert into more of a wing than the small-ball center he was in college at times, but he knows how to fill up the stat sheet.

Quaintance entered the year a contender to go in the top 10, but slipped as teams flagged concerns about his recovery from an ACL tear suffered late in the 2024–25 season. He has incredible tools, with a 7'5" wingspan, monstrous hands and elite mobility when healthy. If he’s healthy, he can learn under Victor Wembanyama and potentially make this Spurs rim protection even more fierce. The injury risk is the only thing keeping this from being one of the best picks in this draft.

The Sixers stop Philon’s draft night slide at No. 22. He won’t have a clear path to competing for a starting spot in Philadelphia with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in tow, but this could end up being a blessing in disguise for Philon with a real path to emerge as a valuable bench contributor. His shiftiness on the ball should give the Sixers a different look off the bench.

Carr had interest all the way up into the late lottery, but slipped into the 20s and the Lakers moved up a spot to make sure they got him. He has elite three-and-D potential if he continues to add strength and improve his focus on the defensive end because the tools athletically are elite. This pick could age well if the Lakers have some patience; Carr was a late bloomer and exploded last season at Baylor.

This is an interesting marriage between a win-now team in Boston and a bit of a project in Cenac, but players with his incredible physical tools are almost never available at this range in the draft. Cenac has a monster 7'5" wingspan, impressive mobility and most importantly made real strides as a rebounder and shooter in his time at Houston. Think of this as a longer-term chip for Brad Stevens and the Celtics organization, either as a developmental piece who emerges in his second or third year or as a trade chip as they continue to work on putting the right pieces around Jayson Tatum.

Phoenix saves the day for Peat, the former top-10 recruit whose odd predraft process left him vulnerable to falling out of the first round altogether. For a player who grew up in the suburbs of Phoenix and starred at Arizona to land with the Suns is a nice consolation prize as he assuredly thought he’d get picked sooner. He’ll add toughness and edge for the Suns, even if he never develops into a reliable three-point threat.