In just a few hours, the stage will be set at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and all the NBA Mock Drafts that have been established and published and fretted over for months now will be left to the dustbin of history. Such is the nature of the business, of course, and the real fun is not so much in imagining how the draft will unfold but watching it actually happen in real time.
This draft should be a doozy. Every draft night has surprises and volatility and players who are tough to place, but this one has all those things and it happens to be rife with talent, with four players at the top of the draft who would have been No. 1 picks in some recent years.
Some of the aspects to watch:
Top 9 trades. The Clippers at No. 5 and Nets at No. 6 have long been considered the prime spots for teams looking to move up. But the Hawks at No. 8 and the Mavericks at No. 9 are in that mix, too. The only team that appears settled on staying in the 5-through-9 range are the Kings.
The Thunder. They’ve got No. 12 and 17 and are engaged in trade talks. As one exec said, “It would be a shocker if they used both of those picks.”
Wildcard players. There is a small handful of players with a draft range of about 15 picks. Karim Lopez, who spent last year in Australia, could go Top 10. He could go No. 20. Meleek Thomas could be a Top 15 pick. He could be a second rounder. Jayden Quaintance has had a worrisome recovery from and ACL tear. He could be Top 20, he could fall to the second round. Cameron Carr, Morez Johnson, Labaron Philon–many players have a very wide range here.
The contenders. There should be some good plug-and-play options at the bottom of the first round, which makes things interesting for the contenders that will be picking there. The Knicks might be the team to watch most, at No. 24 and No. 31 (first pick of the second round), but the Spurs have No. 20, the Lakers No. 25, the Nuggets 26 and the Celtics 27.
With that in mind, it’s time for the final mock draft of this cycle, with some outlook from scouts/coaches/execs on each guy.
At the Top: Darryn Peterson Makes His Move
- Washington Wizards. Darryn Peterson, SG, Kansas. The Wizards have not let slip what their intentions are, and they have acted like a team equally interested in Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, without ruling out Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson. The big concern is the bizarre cramping issues Peterson had while at Kansas. Peterson has upside, and Dybantsa is the safer (though immensely talented) pick.
Scout: “Peterson has tended to get the better of Dybantsa when they’ve met before. … The athleticism and the shot-making, it is all there. He is as good a scorer on all three levels as you are going to find in a guy that young (19).”
… - Utah Jazz. AJ Dybantsa, F, BYU. The Jazz are open to both Dybantsa, who spent the year in Utah, and Peterson here. Much was made of Peterson avoiding a workout for Utah, but that won’t stop them from picking him if he is on the board. Dybantsa would be a cleaner fit, positionally. And he’s really good. Worth noting, too, is the fact that the Jazz have looked at lower-rated players, indicating they’d be willing to move down or add another pick in a trade.
Scout: “He checks every box and is going to come into the league with an All-Star’s game. He needs to get more consistent with his shooting and he needs to be better at understanding how to keep an offense moving because he can be a ball-stopper sometimes. But those are easy fixes. Everything else is an A.”
… - Memphis Grizzlies. Cameron Boozer, PF, Duke. If the first two picks play out as expected, Memphis will land the no-drama guy in all of this. That’s Boozer, who is a star-caliber player who does the little things and has presented no concerns about willingness to work hard and sacrifice for winning. A rebuild around Boozer, Cedric Coward, a hopefully healthy Zach Edey, and whomever the Grizz can get at point guard is not a bad prospect.
One scout on Boozer: “He has so much skill around the basket, he knows how to win, and he makes everyone around him better. He will score 25 points and still throw elbows, set screens, dive on the floor. He is a guy you want on your team.”
NBA Mock Draft 2026: Where Does Aday Mara Go?
- Chicago Bulls. Caleb Wilson, PF, North Carolina. The Bulls have a new front office, under Bryson Graham, and it is fair to assume he won’t overthink the fourth pick. Just take Wilson. The Bulls need a star, and Wilson has the capability to be electric, with size and athleticism. He is less polished than the guys going ahead of him, but the raw talent is there.
Scout: “He reminds me of Chris Bosh, and Bosh was a Hall of Famer. But you’ve got to remember, Bosh put in a ton of work–he was way too skinny and could not shoot when he came in, but you could see the tools. Wilson, you can see the tools but he is skinny and he needs to learn to shoot better. So the question is, how much work is he going to put in?”
… - LA Clippers (from Indiana Pacers). Mikel Brown, Jr., PG, Louisville. We’re not certain the Clippers will make this pick–they are actively seeking ways to add a player, preferably with a draft pick still coming back in the bargain. But it is expected to come down to Brown or Keaton Wagler if the Clips hold here.
Scout: “(Brown) makes mistakes, and you’ve got to live with those and hope he improves. But he has a ton of creativity, he can shoot from the perimeter and he pressures the rim. There’s a lot of upside.”
… - Brooklyn Nets. Aday Mara, C, Michigan. Maybe the conventional wisdom holds steady and Mara falls to No. 8 or later in the lottery. Not a lot of mock drafts have him here, for sure. But there are two things we know–the Nets have looked to move back, and the teams looking to move into this spot are not necessarily moving up to take a point guard. So the bet here is that a team likes Mara’s combination of size (7-foot-3 and growing) and quick-developing potential, as well as the fact that you’re going to need some help guarding Victor Wembanyama as time goes on. In that scenario, a stretch for Morez Johnson or Nate Ament is possible, too.
NBA exec: “He is an upside play but at the beginning of the year, we were not getting much on him. Second-rounder because of his size. But by the end of the year, he’s Top 15 and that tells you he is getting better, more and more every month, especially as an offensive player, and that is probably going to continue.”
… - Sacramento Kings. Darius Acuff Jr., PG, Arkansas. The Kings are said to be targeting Acuff if he is on the board at No. 7, and if the Nets do something unusual at No.6, the Kings will see Acuff land here for them (or Wagler/Brown). Acuff is a very high-level scorer, but the problem from a scouting perspective is that his defense really struggles.
Scout: “He is not just a bad defender, he is an awful defender. You will need to work on him to get him up to average.”
Trade Time in the Lottery
- Atlanta Hawks (from New Orleans Pelicans). Keaton Wagler, G, Illinois. Some things we know about the Hawks: They really like Mara and could move up for him; they would like a young point guard to go with newly re-signed CJ McCollum (who is on a one-year deal); and they’re open to moving back. But if there is a big guy who slips in at No. 5 or 6, the Hawks would be in great position to tab a point guard, and Wagler should pair well with McCollum in the short-term.
Assistant coach: “Love what we saw from him, a big guard who can create, he has smarts, he is a really, really good shooter. The thing is, there is not a ton of tape because he really just broke out in the last three months of the college season. So, you’re taking a flier on the fact that he is that guy and not sort of the late first-rounder he was early in the year.”
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- Dallas Mavericks. Kingston Flemings, PG, Houston. The rumor that the Mavericks like Brayden Burries here is still making the rounds, and it’s on the dance card. The hiring of Dusty May from Michigan, too, could change the calculus–Mara, Morez Johnson, Yaxel Lendeborg now become possibilities. But if the Mavs feel they can get some combination of those players at No. 12 and/or 17 in a trade with the Thunder, then this is an increasingly hot trade spot. Flemings is a good shooter who can develop his 3-ball. He shot 38.7% on 3s at Houston, though he took only 2.9 per game.
Scout: “Teams will fall in love with him as they talk with him and see how he thinks the game. There are more raw talented players, but he is a worker and a thinker, and he is going to get everything out of his talent.” - Milwaukee Bucks. Nate Ament, SF, Tennessee. The Bucks have big issues ahead of them, but no matter how things pan out, the team will have the No. 10 pick and are said to have a hankering for Ament’s upside. He is a 6-foot-10 wing with athleticism, ball-handling and shooting ability . But he did not much show it with the Vols (16.7 points, 39.9% shooting).
Scout: “Up and down year for him. It was good he came back after getting hurt (ankle injury in late February), but there’s a lot of question marks there. He’s a shooter at 6-foot-10, though. … You just have to trust that you can develop him.”
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GettyNate Ament #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers
NBA Mock Draft 2026: Thunder Watch Is On
- Golden State Warriors. Brayden Burries, G, Arizona. There will be some Top 10-caliber players who slip through the cracks. Burries could well be one, especially if the Mavs move back. The Warriors are in best-player-available mode, as they should be with the No. 11 pick, but it comes with an asterisk: They want the best player available for the 2026-27 season. They want a guy who is polished, and both Burries and Yaxel Lendeborg could fit that mix. Morez Johnson, too. The concerns about Burries are obvious–he is older as an outgoing freshman (he will be 21 in September) and he is a 6-foot-4 combo guard. The Warriors can live with that.
Scout: “He is a winner, top to bottom, that is what you love about him. Really good shooter, can be a playmaker, can play off the ball, has that versatility, he defends. Super confident, maybe to a fault–he sometimes tries to force plays that are not there. So he will need to reel that in at the next level.”
… - Oklahoma City Thunder (from LA Clippers). Morez Johnson, PF, Michigan. If the Mavericks do trade down to this spot, it is a good spot to bring in a potentially outstanding defensive frontcourt player who is getting better offensively. Johnson is excellent in his role as a defensive star who can chip in offensively, though is not much of a shooter. His measurements (9-foot standing reach, 7-foot-3 wingspan) in Chicago were impressive and sealed his status as a Top 15 pick.
NBA exec:
“He is one of those chameleon kind of players you think can just slide into whatever roster, whatever team, and make it better. He is not going to have huge numbers (13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds at Michigan) but he is going to get even better in the NBA game. He would be a Top 10 pick in most years, easy.”
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- Miami Heat. Labaron Philon, PG, Alabama. If the Heat get their way, they will not be in this slot, and that is influencing the Philon pick at this point. If Miami sends this pick to Milwaukee, after having taken Ament at No. 10, the Bucks will need a point guard and will be in a good position to add one who slides from the top tier–Philon, Christian Anderson, Bennett Stirtz. Philon has the best upside of the group, though.
He needs to add weight, which remains one of the big concerns with him.NBA exec: “He is aggressive, he attacks, but he does it in a smart way and with good vision. He needs some muscle but you don’t want to put too much on him–I mean, we all said Stephen Curry needed muscle, too. So that’s not that a big worry for a lot of teams. Very heady player, you can get him on an NBA court pretty quickly, even at his weight (180 pounds).”
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- Charlotte Hornets. Hannes Steinbach, C/PF, Washington. The Hornets are rumored to have interest in a Domantas Sabonis trade, which means this pick could land with the Kings … and Steinbach would still make sense in that regard. Either way, the Hornets like Steinbach and need depth and talent up front, even if there is a Sabonis trade.
Scout: “The concerns are, can he defend out to the perimeter, can he guard big shooters? He does not have a lot of athleticism, so that’s No. 1. But he has a lot of skill in the post and he should be able to stretch his offensive game to the 3-point line. Smart player, he understands the angles and that’s why he’s been such a great rebounder.”
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Bulls Add More Electricity
- Chicago Bulls (from Portland Trail Blazers). Cameron Carr, SF, Baylor.
We have had a couple of variations for the Bulls here at No. 15, but we’ve mostly had Carr, and that’s sensible for a team who can use a scoring threat with a chance to develop into something more. He is 6-foot-5 with a 7-foot-1 wingspan and good shooting ability–he has the raw tools teams are looking for, and has noticeably improved over time. Pairing him with Caleb Wilson would give the Bulls some real juice. But would the Bulls pass on Lendeborg here? That could change their direction.NBA exec: “I think he is moving up the more NBA people get a closer look at him. He’s not your No. 1 option but he can be a really good No. 3 as a rookie, and a No. 2 in time.”
… - Memphis Grizzlies (from Phoenix Suns). Christian Anderson, G, Texas Tech. We’re sticking with Anderson here, though the Grizzlies have a wide range of possibilities as their rebuild continues. Anderson has been very good in workouts, and has shown he can shoot, run a team and play some defense. He shot well in college (41.5% from the 3-point line this year) and can play both on and off the ball. It’s worth watching Labaron Philon, Bennett Stirtz and Ebuka Okorie here, too. But a point guard would be welcome in Memphis.
Scout: “Like a lot of guys in this draft, we might be talking about him in the Top 10 in a normal year, but there is just a lot of talent here. Anderson is skilled, he is dynamic and he did a really good job working out some of the issues he had as a freshman. He just really has polished his game and he has all the confidence and poise you would want him to have. He will get better a point guard, and he’s already a really good scorer.”
… - Oklahoma City Thunder (from Philadelphia Sixers). Yaxel Lendeborg, F, Michigan. The versatility and force with which Lendeborg played at Michigan definitely left an impression, though there is some concern about how he would adjust to the NBA game and NBA locker rooms. He is 23, and has the polish to be a Top 10 player–and we’re not ruling him out as a surprise pick that high. But Golden State at No. 11, Miami at No. 13 and Chicago at No. 15 are probably more realistic. We don’t know if the Thunder will be the ones making this pick, of course.
Scout: “He’s going to be 24 in September, and that’s the big thing with him—he is ready to play in the NBA but you’d expect him to be more of a versatile, dirty-work kind of role player. That’s not a bad thing, but he fits best with a contender. Some teams might be looking for a bigger swing.”
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- Charlotte Hornets (from Orlando Magic). Karim Lopez, F, New Zealand Breakers. Players are gonna fall. There is interest in Lopez in the Top 10, as high as Brooklyn at No. 6, as well as the Heat if they pick 13th (the Bucks like him, too), the Bulls at No. 15, and the Hornets. The thing about Lopez is a lot of teams seem to like him but no one loves him and it seems as though he will be on plenty of lists but won’t be the No. 1 guy until we get deep into the teens. The Hornets might not make this pick, but he Lopez is there, he’s a worthy gamble. In his NBL season in Australia this year, Lopez averaged 11.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 49% shooting.
Scout: “You want to play him as a big wing and he has the build for that but he is more of a straight-ahead slasher now and you can’t be sure if he is going to develop the shooting, and the court vision you want to see there. But he is young and he is physical, he is not afraid to mix it up. That’s a good starting point.”
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- Toronto Raptors. Bennett Stirtz, PG, Iowa. Stirtz is a shooter, and it is very possible the Hornets would pick him at No. 18. But if he gets this far, the Raptors are looking to add shooting as they’re likely to dump Gradey Dick sooner rather than later. Stirtz is an attractive piece for a team with hopes of being a contender, because he is certainly polished–he turns 23 years old in the fall, in a draft deep with point guards.
Scout: “He is a guy who probably could have come out earlier, but he stayed around because of NIL and it could help him in the long run. He needs to play for a good team where he can set up your offense and knock down shots when he needs to. He is not going to score 20 points a game, but everybody needs guys like that.”
…Cameron Carr #43 of the Baylor Bears
NBA Mock Draft 2026: Spurs Get Another Big
- San Antonio Spurs (from Atlanta Hawks). Chris Cenac Jr., PF/C, Houston. The rich get richer. The Thunder and Spurs did not tank this year, but they’re still drawing benefits of having done so in recent year, and they’ve got a nice piece of real estate here in this draft to add a player. The Spurs can be aggressive in free agency, adding a veteran, but they’d like young, frontcourt help to develop, and while Allen Graves has long been our pick here, word is they could go for higher upside with Cenac. He is an intriguing prospect with a 7-foot-4 wingspan who could do well with good NBA development, too, having failed to live up to his pre-college billing.
Scout: “He is a risk, all the big guys in this draft are a risk. You’d like to see more rim protection, you’d like to see more consistency. But he can develop into a stretch big guy, and that’s at a premium. … There’s a lot of untapped potential.”
… - Detroit Pistons (from Minnesota Timberwolves). Allen Graves, PF, Santa Clara. The Pistons need some depth here, and while there is a conventional wisdom they will seek a point guard, that’s not necessarily the case. They need wings. They need bigs. They just need better players. The Pistons worked out Graves last week. While Tobias Harris may be around for a while in Detroit, he won’t be around forever, and Graves could be a solid backup.
Scout: “He is so efficient, he makes winning plays, he is young and he got better as the year went on. Get him in workouts and interviews and he is the kind of kid someone is going to fall in love with.”
… - Philadelphia Sixers (from Houston Rockets). Dailyn Swain, G/F, Texas. The Sixers are also in the depth business, and ready to scoop up the BPA on the board. Swain has secured himself a first-round spot, and if he is still around, the Sixers are a good fit. Philly likes Cenac here, and would be open to a point guard, but Swain is good value here. He averaged 17.3 points and 7.5 rebounds after transferring from Xavier, and was a key to Texas’ Sweet 16 run.
Scout: “He is 6-foot-8 and he has always been sort of a question mark. But the more this season (went) on, and the NCAA tournament, you saw him converting potential into performance. He is passing better, he is shooting better, he is making better decisions. And he’s just scratching the surface.”
… - Atlanta Hawks (from Cleveland Cavaliers). Jayden Quaintance, PF/C, Kentucky. Hopes that Quaintance’s medicals would inspire confidence have faded, and it looks like he will go into the draft as a first-round risk because of lingering knee problems after ACL surgery. Quaintance is an athletic 6-foot-10 big man and will likely be scooped up in the 20s, after a frustrating year in Lexington. If healthy, he is a big win. At worse, his trajectory could be similar to that of Robert Williams, who dropped hard (No. 27) in the 2018 draft after being projected as a lottery pick, and has had stretches of usefulness mixed in with persistent knee problems.
Scout: “You see some Jalen Duren in him because he plays with that same kind of intensity. The injury is there but it is an ACL, and guys his age usually bounce back from that without a lot of added worry as long as the rest of the medicals are clean. That’s the big test.”
… - New York Knicks. Isaiah Evans, SF, Duke. The Knicks have No. 24 and No. 31, and have options with those picks. If the goal is to truly avoid the second apron, they will likely use both picks, but there is a chance they could package and move up. The could also pick Spain’s Sergio de Larrea with No. 31 and attempt to stash him in Europe. But Evans worked out for the Knicks and looked good in doing so. He measured in at 6-foot-5.5 with a 6-foot-8.75 wingspan and a 8-foot-8.5 standing reach, good measurements for a perimeter scorer teams will want to see be able to defend at an NBA level, too. He does not have much heft, though, at just 186 pounds.
Scout: “There is a lot to like because he is such a good offensive weapon and he has so much natural talent. But you will need to do two things with him–rein him in a bit, get him out of that habit of taking bad shots just because he knows he can make them. That’s the first thing. Then, you’ve got to beef him up a little bit, he can’t be on an NBA floor without more muscle. He added weight by the combine, so maybe that is a good sign.”
… - LA Lakers. Ebuka Okorie, PG, Stanford. We’re sticking with Okorie here. Yes, we know the Lakers need a big guy, and would love to add one at this spot, and we have heard the Tarris Reed chatter. But to repeat, this team needs a talent infusion, not just at one position, but all over. Its recent history of draft picks (Jalen Hood-Schifino, Dalton Knecht) has not gone well, and a new front office is bent on changing that. They need talent, and Okorie would be the best talent available in this mock–he worked out for the Lakers, and impressed them. The 6-foot-8 wingspan Okorie registered at the combine (he is only 6-foot-1) will help. He averaged 23.2 points in the ACC last year.
NBA exec: “He can do a lot in the stop-and-start game, he is very good at getting you unbalanced and getting a good look that way. He was not the ideal playmaker in college, but he was at Stanford–he needed to be the scorer. If you think he can run point and defend his position, he’s got a high ceiling.”
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NBA Mock Draft 2026: Celtics Get the Big Man
- Denver Nuggets. Koa Peat, PF, Arizona. Peat decided to stay in the draft despite questions about his shooting, but this is a good spot for the Nuggets to take a swing on him. He is a fringe first-rounder, a 6-foot-8 forward who plays with some power. But Peat is probably the highest upside guy on the board here. How a team views him is probably based on whether it thinks he can develop a 3-pointer (6-for-19 in his college career). He might have been better off doing that in the NCAA, but now he’ll do it in the G League.
Scout: “He is strong and physical and I totally get the questions about his shooting but I would say, the power he plays with right now makes it so you can get him on an NBA floor and he is going to hold his own on both ends. He is strong in the paint, he can defend multiple positions. The shooting is the one big thing.”
… - Boston Celtics. Tarris Reed, C, UConn. Indeed, the Celtics might not make this pick, and there is certainly no limitation on what positions they would look at if they do make the pick. But the Celtics shed three big men last year–Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Luke Kornet–and replaced them with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza. They need to invest in this position, and it’s a lot harder to sign or trade for size than it is to draft it. We do like Zuby Ejiofor here, too, but Reed is more of a pure center (though he took just seven 3s in four college seasons).
Scout: “He is tough and he is physical. He has a lot of natural instincts that you want to see with a big man–he loves setting screens, he is smart on the roll, he defends, you never have to tell him to play with more force. You can’t teach that or develop it. You can teach someone to shoot, and that’s what you hope for with Reed. But you can’t teach his instincts.”
Tarris Reed Getty
… - Minnesota Timberwolves (from Detroit Pistons). Jack Kayil, PG, Germany. The Labaron Philon workout is fascinating. No doubt, the Wolves would like a point guard in this draft–they like Bennett Stirtz, too. But Kayil, at 6-foot-5 with solid two-way skills already (he is 19) is an intriguing future bet for a team that needs to maximize its draft assets. Most expected Kayil to play and grow at Gonzaga, and it was a surprise when he pulled out and opted for the draft. His perimeter shooting is the big question mark.
NBA exec: “You hope you are not looking at another Killian Hayes here, but that is kind of who he reminds you of. It’s going to come down to, can he make the 3-ball? He is not really a lead guard, but he can be your secondary ballhandler and a very good point-of-attack defender.”
… - Cleveland Cavaliers (from San Antonio Spurs). Zuby Ejiofor, F/C, St. John’s.
The Cavaliers should be making serious changes to to a roster that seems to have hit its peak and needs a refresh. But they are not doing that. So, maybe the No. 29 pick will change their fortunes. Ejiofor was one of the stories of the NCAA tournament, and he should bring an impact to the NBA. He has a 7-foot-2 wingspan, and an 8-foot-11 standing reach, offsetting the fact he measured at 6-foot-7.5 at the combine. Ejiofor finished last year strong, and averaged 16.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.Scout: “He is going to give your team a jolt with his energy and his physicality. There are a lot of players who play too pretty and are not wanting to get dirty, but this guy thrives on that. He has the skillset to develop into a stretch 4 or 5, but even if he does not, he can still get on the floor because he hustles and defends and does not get pushed around.”
… - Dallas Mavericks (from Oklahoma City Thunder). Meleek Thomas, G, Arkansas. The fact that a rumor cropped up suggesting Thomas could go in the Top 15 was followed by a rumor that Thomas could be a second-rounder, shows how a wide gap there is for Thomas on Tuesday. He can shoot, and that matters–he made 41.6% of his 3s last year. But is he limited to catch-and-shoot opportunities, and can he do much else? That’s in the eye of the beholder.
Assistant coach: “Everything we have seen says he does not like contact, and it kind of comes down to, if you think he can fix that, you take him, he is a first-rounder. If you think he is naturally allergic to contact, you pass on him and let someone else worry about that.”
NBA Mock Draft Final: New Rumors as Scouts, Execs Weigh in on All 30 Picks