Darius Acuff’s scoring punch would transform the Mavericks’ guard room

Darius Acuff Jr. of the Arkansas Razorbacks is perhaps the favorite small-ish point guard on the 2026 NBA Draftboard. Acuff’s offensive case speaks loudly enough to justify high-end lottery interest, but the questions surrounding his defensive effort and shot profile are real enough to split many evaluators. He was Arkansas’ engine as a freshman, scoring efficiently, passing at high volume and delivering some of the biggest late-season performances in the country. The question surrounding Acuff is not whether he can score. It is whether a 6-foot-2 guard can pressure the rim enough, and whether he has the defensive buy-in and decision balance to be more than a regular-season shot-maker.

The basics

Acuff bolstered his standing in draft circles as the 2025-26 season progressed, becoming more of a riser during the SEC Tournament and the Razorbacks’ three NCAA Tournament games. He averaged 23.5 points, leading the conference, in 35.1 minutes per game in his only college season. He shot the lights out from 3-point range, at 44% on the year. That shooting puts him firmly above every point guard on the board save for Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and perhaps Illinois’ Keaton Wagler.

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He is a pure scorer more than anything else at this point.

Acuff measured 6-foot-2 without shoes and about 186 pounds with a 6-foot-6.5 wingspan at the NBA Draft Combine, which gives him better length than the average small guard but still places him below the size threshold many teams now prefer for primary ball handlers. His athletic profile is more compact power, pace manipulation, and change-of-speed craft than overwhelming vertical pop. He can get a shoulder past defenders, stop quickly into pull-ups, and play through some contact because of his strength and low center of gravity, but he is not the type of guard who consistently erases mistakes with elite downhill burst.

That distinction matters. Acuff’s combine agility and sprint numbers support a functional mover, not a nuclear athlete, so his NBA separation has to come from handle, footwork, screen craft, and shooting gravity. The long arms give teams a reason to…

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Publish date : 2026-05-22 12:00:00

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