2026 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0
It's never too early to prepare for next year's class—2026 will be the strongest in the last few years! Here are the fifteen most essential names you have to monitor in the next 18 months:
To ensure consistency and avoid discrepancies from multiple sources, all height and weight information is sourced exclusively from RealGM.com.
Introduction
The 2026 NBA Draft is one of the strongest in the past few years. There’s a consensus of a top-tier. AJ Dybantsa, who committed to BYU, Darryn Peterson (Kansas), and Duke commit Cameron Boozer. However, this class has much more talent.
NBA teams with a lottery pick will get incredible value in next year’s draft. Here are fifteen names you have to monitor throughout the season.
Rankings
1. AJ Dybantsa — 6’9”, 210 lbs — SF/PF
Committed to: Brigham Young University
Date of Birth: 2007-01-29, Age of Draft Night: 19.4
Dybantsa easily fits into the top five prospects that I evaluated. His tantalizing collection of top-tier athleticism, self-creation ability as a scorer, and paint touch generator on top of his size and touch at the rim, make him the ultimate target for today’s NBA. We rarely see prospects who can create advantages both with their speed and physicality.
Despite the inconsistency as a three-point shooter, Dybantsa can overwhelm opponents in his path to getting to the paint. He’s a professional scorer with an NBA-ready body. To complete his path to stardom in the NBA, Dybantsa is an excellent passer and good playmaker. That’ll be his weapon to improve as a shooter, whereas, Coach Young’s system at Brigham Young, he’ll be used in multiple ways despite being the team’s leading ball handler.
2. Cameron Boozer — 6’9”, 235 lbs — SF/PF
Committed to: Duke
Date of Birth: 2007-07-18, Age of Draft Night: 18.9
Despite Boozer’s dominance at the EYBL circuit and his Most Valuable Player award at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup in 2024, he’s still considered the third-best prospect in this class. For me, Boozer is another rare case of physicality, explosiveness, strength and ball-handling. His elite feel for the game is a testimony to how well he has been taught the game by his father.
Close to 6-foot-10, Boozer’s consistent executions of his reads as a scorer and playmaker on top of his tight handles make him a feared prospect who can be the next potential National Player of the Year while playing for Duke. Despite being a 17-year-old, he’s a man-child, considering how well his frame developed and the physicality difference compared to his peers.
For the NBA, Boozer’s true multi-positional character in his game makes him the best-scalable prospect in this class. He’s best with the ball in his hands, but at the next level, he’ll be the best at adapting to a role to speed up his path to stardom.
3. Darryn Peterson — 6’5”, 195 lbs — PG
Committed to: Kansas
Date of Birth: 2007-01—17, Age of Draft Night: 19.4
He's the best point guard of the last few years. Peterson is the real deal and will keep the battle for the number-one position wide-open throughout the season. He’s the ideal point guard NBA teams try to find through the draft. With Kansas losing a majority of their starting minutes in the guard rotation, Peterson enters an ideal situation.
His collection of elite passing and playmaking, on top of his top-tier shot prowess, makes him the best guard by a wide margin. On top of that, the positional to play the one and the two will be a differentiator for him. Despite being the best player in the high school scene this season. Peterson has to overcome the challenge to adapt and find the best possible role for the NBA.
Defensively, he fits Kansas’ mold like a glove. His big hands and elite instincts make him an accomplished ball-chaser, collecting deflections, whereas his rotations and his game’s maturity make it feasible that he’ll adapt to college quickly. We don’t see true two-way guards in the NBA that much anymore, and Peterson’s trajectory and current skillset put him next in line.
4. Jayden Quaintance — 6’9”, 235 lbs — C
Committed to: Arizona State while entering his sophomore season.
Date of Birth: 2007-07-11, Age of Draft Night: 19.5
Quaintance has a unique situation, as he’ll have two full seasons of development at the power-five level. He fits the mold of an old-school elite interior defender. Whether it’s as a weak-side helper or as a true five, Quaintance’s foot speed, verticality, and well-developed body make him one of the best defensive fives in college as of today. I don’t make comparisons often, but his impact on that end reminds me of Tyson Chandler.
But the added value on top of that is on the offensive end. Quaintance is improving fast as a floor-spacer. His screening looks much better compared to the earlier phase of the season. He’s getting more comfortable as a pick-and-pop threat, whereas his ‘grab-and-go’ sequences after rebounds show he can put the ball on the ground and make plays. Despite the popularity of the three names prior, the gap between Quaintance and the top 3 is very small.
NBA teams must figure out how to utilize his physicality, athleticism, and defensive value to facilitate his needs on offense. If everything clicks, Quaintance has a legitimate chance to be one of the best centers drafted in the last few seasons.
5. Koa Peat — 6’8”, 235 lbs — PF
Uncommitted
Date of Birth: 2007-01-20, Age of Draft Night: 19.4
Absurdly, Peat is the most underrated name as of today. While he’s built like an NFL linebacker, Peat has all the physical tools NBA franchises look for. His broad shoulders, super-long arms, and well-developing perimeter skillset make him one of the most physically imposing prospects in this class. Despite a lack of true athleticism, Peat’s improvement as a ball handler and shooter makes it inevitable that he’ll be playing as a four at the next level.
His excellent touch at the rim, combined with decent verticality, leads to him maintaining efficiency. While being one of the impact-makers for Team USA in the FIBA-organized tournaments in the last few years, Peat’s swing skill is to improve his handles and shot-making outside the paint. Defensively, he can truly switch to four positions as his improving passing ability prepares him to make plays for himself and others as a short-roll option.
Despite a lack of true plus-scoring potential, Peat possesses everything else and should firmly be one of the top prospects in this class.
6. Chris Cenac, Jr. — 6’10”, 233 lbs — PF/C
Committed to: Houston
Date of Birth: 2007-01-31, Age of Draft Night: 19.4
Cenac, Jr. is a monster when making plays out of closeouts. More NBA franchises look to replace the traditional drop-coverage centers with prospects who add ball skills, fluidity, and creativity as scorers. That’s Cenac, Jr.’s game in a nutshell.
While bulking up to over 230 pounds, Cenac, Jr. is an excellent rim protector. He’ll be efficient as a play-finisher around the basket, with his close to NBA-ready body. However, NBA scouts will be more interested in seeing his well-developing shot-making from the three-point line on top of his creativity as a closeout attacker as the pick-and-pop option. Screening-wise, Cenac, Jr. has to improve, but playing for one of the most fundamentally sound coaches in the game will help him in that regard.
7. Isiah Harwell — 6’6”, 200 lbs — SG/SF
Committed to: Houston
Date of Birth: 2007-01-02, Age of Draft Night: 19.4
Harwell is an interesting case study. He wasn’t in action last summer due to his ACL injury. Regardless, his reputation as a true defensive wing gives him a solid base to emerge as one of the better two-way wings in the NBA. His excellent feel for the game, big and quick hands on top of the physicality and toughness, continues to feed into the need for more size and versatility in the NBA.
With such a solid base, Harwell can focus more on improving his shooting off the catch while feasting off his physicality and decent handles to make plays out of closeouts. I expect him to play in a role with fewer ball touches, where the defense will keep Harwell on the floor as potentially one of the best defenders among freshmen next year. For the NBA, the archetype is the main value, as it’ll likely take a few years before he can make the jump to an All-Star-leveled wing.
8. Nate Ament — 6’9”, 185 lbs — SF/PF
Uncommitted
Date of Birth: 2006-12-10, Age of Draft Night: 19.5
Ament needs to bulk up and continue to fill his frame to truly unleash his potential. We see a trend of more ball-handling forwards who impact the game with their excellent ability to hunt mismatches. However, despite Ament’s good feel for the game, creativity, and handles, he lacks the physicality to leverage his strength to ultimately use all his outlier skills.
The differentiator is Ament’s quick feet and improving passing. He can defend the one, two, and three effectively as of today, whereas his length and future physical improvements only make his positional versatility better and better. Despite Ament being far from ready to play NBA basketball as of today, he holds an incredible amount of future potential, with the base being how well he’ll develop physically in the next few years.
9. Karim López — 6’8” — SF/PF
Professional at the New Zealand Breakers (New Zealand)
Date of Birth: 2007-04-12, Age of Draft Night: 19.2
López is the best international prospect in this class. As a 17-year-old, he looked physically ready at the NBL level. He’ll be in a unique situation of playing two years of high-tier international basketball while growing into his ball-handling role during the process. We see the NBL’s Next Stars program increasing the quality of prospects lately, and López is next in line.
The main buy for NBA teams is positional and role versatility. He’s a tough screener and active cutter. He’s gotten much stronger in his rotations, considering while playing in an NBA-styled fast-paced game. Despite being younger, he’s thriving on defensive box-outs, whereas his play-finishing keeps him on the floor with a path to play increased minutes with more ball touches next year.
It’s uncertain what his best NBA role is at the moment, which will depend on how well he’ll embrace his role as a scoring-heavy wing, where his physicality and toughness are two essential intangibles he’ll intrigue NBA scouts with.
10. Miikka Muurinen — 6’10” — PF
Uncommitted
Date of Birth: 2007-03-04, Age of Draft Night: 19.3
Muurinen is a true bucket-getter. His top-tier athleticism gains more value, considering his size and self-creation ability as a scorer. However, the shot is what’ll intrigue NBA scouts the most. His role versatility is the main investment franchises will make. He’s an excellent screener who’ll find enough opportunities to shoot in volume as a pick-and-pop option.
However, the lack of passing is hurting his chances at the moment. Muurinen is a fairly selfish scorer who doesn’t make the extra pass often. Regardless, that’s easier to change as the earlier-mentioned was a result of his large chunk of scoring duties, eventually leading him to win the 16U Championship during Peach Jam.
Muurinen is a safe prospect whose role can scale up easier, considering how well he’s doing the basics of serving as a screener, play-finisher, and pick-and-pop shooter. The athleticism is the main sell as the intangible, but his college commitment and team fit will heavily influence his draft stock, as the production has to stay on par.
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