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The 2026 NBA Draft is a source of hope for teams desperately seeking a savior. This was always going to be a great class with three potential No. 1 overall talents sitting at the top in Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa, and Duke’s Cameron Boozer, but it looks even better now as more freshman studs have continued to emerge.
Houston’s Kingston Flemings and Illinois’ Keaton Wagler weren’t on our preseason draft board. Both had already solidified themselves as lottery picks in our last update, and they look like even stronger prospects now after Wagler dropped 46 points on Purdue and Flemings hung 42 points on Texas Tech over the weekend.
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For this update, I simulated the lottery drawing via Tankathon, and one lucky team moved way up to land a top prospect. The selections in this mock don’t really factor team fit into consideration, and more mirror my evaluations of the players in this class. Here’s our latest projection of the 2026 NBA Draft.
1. Indiana Pacers – Cameron Boozer, F, Duke
You don’t draft for fit with the No. 1 overall pick. Boozer is the best prospect in this year’s draft, and in my opinion one of the strongest NBA prospects of the last decade. If the fit is a little wonky with Pascal Siakam right now, who cares: Boozer was born in July 2007 and Siakam was born in April 1994, meaning they aren’t exactly on the same timeline. Boozer will probably a full-time four eventually, but he’s versatile enough to play the three early in his career while Indiana figures out what it needs around him and Tyrese Haliburton long-term. His intersection of brains, brawn, and skill is so enticing that it eclipses any concerns about his athletic explosiveness or fluidity. Boozer is massively productive and he’s been driving winning at an elite level dating back to high school. He’s an excellent shooter, passer, and driver for his size, and he knows how to make plays defensively even without quick-twitch movement ability. With Boozer and Haliburton, the Pacers could run the East for a long, long time.
2. Dallas Mavericks – Darryn Peterson, G, Kansas
The Mavs jumped up…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-mock-draft-2026-lottery-130000957.html
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Publish date : 2026-01-27 13:00:00
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