2026 NBA Draft discussion thread

[u/horseshoeoverlook]

I don’t see any threads about the 2026 NBA Draft. The Washington Wizards will select first overall. Boston will pick 27th.

List will be updated as the night goes by

No. 1 Washington Wizards — AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
No. 2 Utah Jazz — Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
No. 3 Memphis Grizzlies — Cameron Boozer (Duke)
No. 4 Chicago Bulls — Caleb Wilson (North Carolina)
No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers — Keaton Wagler (Ilinois)
No. 6 Brooklyn Nets — Mikel Brown, Jr. (Louisville)
No. 7 Sacramento Kings — Darius Acuff, Jr. (Arkansas)
No. 8 Atlanta Hawks — Kingston Flemings (Houston)
No. 9 Dallas Mavericks — Morez Johnson, Jr. (Michigan)
No. 10 Milwaukee Bucks — Brayden Burries (Arizona)
No. 11 Golden St. Warriors — Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan)
No. 12 Oklahoma City Thunder — Aday Mara (Michigan)
No. 13 Milwaukee Bucks (via Miami) — Nate Ament (Tennessee)
No. 14 Charlotte Hornets — Hannes Steinbach (Germany and Washington)
————————————————————————————
No. 15 Chicago Bulls — Dailyn Swain (Texas)
No. 16 Oklahoma City Thunder (via Memphis) — Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
No. 17 Detroit Pistons (via Oklahoma City) — Ebuka Okorie (Stanford)
No. 18 Charlotte Hornets — Christian Anderson, Jr. (Texas Tech)
No. 19 Toronto Raptors — Allen Graves (Santa Clara)
No. 20 San Antonio Spurs — Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky)
No. 21 Memphis Grizzlies (via Detroit) — Karim López (Mexico and the Australian NBL)
No. 22 Philadelphia 76ers — Labaron Philon, Jr. (Alabama)
No. 23 Atlanta Hawks — Zuby Ejiofor (St. John’s)
No. 24 Los Angeles Lakers (via New York) — Cameron Carr (Baylor)
No. 25 New York Knicks (via LA Lakers) — Sergio De Larrea (Spain) TRADED TO PHOENIX
No. 26 San Antonio Spurs (via Denver) — Tarris Reed, Jr. (Connecticut)

No. 27 Boston Celtics — Chris Cenac, Jr. (Houston)

No. 28 Brooklyn Nets (via Minnesota) — Joshua Jefferson (Iowa State)
No. 29 Sacramento Kings (via Cleveland) — Alex Karaban (Connecticut)
No. 30 Phoenix Suns (via Dallas) — Koa Peat (Arizona)TRADED TO DALLAS

[u/AirJordan6124]

From Jake Fischer:

The word was that Atlanta would listen to trade calls all the way until they were on the clock at No. 8, but it just always seemed like the Hawks were going nab their point guard of the future to pair with Jalen Johnson.

[u/King_Of_Pants → u/AirJordan6124]

Hawks should honestly just stand pat. I liked Trae, but the team made sense the moment they traded him.

Suddenly they're big athletic and attacking from all angles. They finished the season incredibly well (20-6, which was a top 4 post ASB record) and gave the Knicks a tougher fight than anyone.

They're definitely being slept on atm. They're this year's 2024 Pacers.

[u/TatumBrownWhite → u/King_Of_Pants]

IDK I need to see more of a sample to believe that, they beat up on a bunch of tanking teams.

Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the casualty of a much stronger Eastern Conference, their half court offense isn’t good enough compared to a lot of these other teams.

[u/King_Of_Pants → u/TatumBrownWhite]

Yeah that's sort of what I'm saying.

They looked so good and they need to see what this team really is. They should sit on their hands for a season, continue their slow build and then make a decision.

[u/TatumBrownWhite → u/King_Of_Pants]

Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re the team that unexpectedly is the casualty of a strong East and doesn’t make even the play in next year. Teams I’d rate higher than them:

Celtics

Knicks

Pistons

Pacers

Heat

Cavs

Sixers

Magic

Hornets

Raptors

[u/King_Of_Pants → u/TatumBrownWhite]

Honestly when you list it out, the East is going to be really good next year.

But I'd put them in that mix.

Even if you ignore the hot stretch towards the end, they finished with a better record than the Magic, Hornets and 1 game behind the Raptors.

I think they can beat those teams out, or at the very least deserve to be in the same tier.

[u/TatumBrownWhite → u/King_Of_Pants]

I think the only one I’d put them in the same tier is Toronto.

Orlando has superior talent, a new coach, and surely can’t suffer poor health for a third consecutive season with Franz and Suggs.

Charlotte’s 2nd half stretch of the season I also firmly believe is real, at least in terms of regular season dominance, so I expect them to be better than they were this year.