Who was it who already posted a conspiracy theory that Boston or Indiana will scoop up the #1 overall because that's how the NBA lottery works. Too funny, they deserve a reflexive distrust of that level.
Theathletic just posted their first '26 mock, to me anyway, one of the better we can find around since ESPN posted it's '26 mock back in February (and a new one two days ago), the consensus is still the same:
Tier 1:
1. Darrin Peterson-Combo Guard, complete player offensively and defense. 1/07
2. AJ Dybantsa-Wing w/some concerns on defense. 1/07 bday. Consensus 1.01 until Peterson leapt past him during their senior seasons in high school.
Tier 1B:
3. Cam Boozer: Ideal modern Power Forward that can hit from 3, at least to some extent, seems to be a few he'll be the best college player but has a lower ceiling than the others.
4. Nate Ament: The new comer to the tier making it 4 instead of 3, apparently he's a grower, like Bub, grew significantly and is now a 6-11 wing, plays hard on D. 12/06 B-Day
Tier 2:
5. Mikel Brown: 6'4" PG for Louisville, another Bub type, he apparently grew 6 inches in the past 18-24 months. Basically a better version of Fears and a bit taller. I'm shocked he's the oldest of these guys, he looks like a sophomore but he's got the April '06 bday.
5b. Karim Lopez: Yet another Wing Prospect, apparently has pro basketball genes (dad was on Mexican National Team), went to New Zealand to play pro ball, lit it up down the stretch. Has good Wing #'s during that stretch, set a record becoming the youngest player ever to record a double double as a 17 year old last fall, regarded as a very high effort guy.
Considering our interest in high effort, two way guys, it sounds like Peterson, Boozer, Ament, Brown and Lopez are fits, and Dybantsa is more of an offense guy who is meh on defense.
Long term, it sounds like Peterson is the best fit, followed by Ament or Boozer, if Ament's 6-11, that's kind of huge for a wing isn't it? I Wonder if he'll move to PF as he fills out. Sounds like Boozer is the best positional fit, a big bodied, offensive/defensive weapon, not sure what that does to Sarr though.
No Center Prospects, only 1 PG prospect1, whose more of a combo guy, you'd have to drop into 5th or lower before another PG prospect arrives, so it's yet more Wings which we are already chock full of at the top of the draft, 2 of the top 4 are wings, and 3 of the top 6. The unfortunate reality is that the entire top 10 is stuffed chock full of wings, 6 of the top 10 and 8 of the top 10 if you include combo guard/guard prospects. No Centers to speak of, and maybe 2 PG prospects. This is one of the reasons I found it odd that we didn't try to move up for Center help. It's a known, known that the '26 class aint providing us a solution to that problem, and this draft was chock full of center prospects. This year there's about 3-4 PF/C guys though that don't have the height but might have the length, but all of them are in that 8-15 zone, you don't see a straight Center Prospect until the 20's.
Looking at the board, for now anyway, If we avoid the horror of giving up the pick, my interests would be:
1.Peterson
2. Dybantsa
3. Ament
4. Boozer
5. Mikel Brown
A lot can change in a year, but for the most part, we know last year shuffled a bit of the top 5-6, but at the end of the college season and draft, only 1 of the top 6 players was a surprise, Kon, and I think all of us agree that was a stupid pick and valuation (even if NBA scouts really really liked him more than us, and analytics people). I suspect the top 4 will likely remain the same.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6439364/2025/06/29/nba-mock-draft-2026-prospective-players/https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45585873/2026-nba-mock-draft-four-players-no-1-pick-options-peterson-dybantsa-boozer-ament
