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Teams thought so highly of the 2026 NBA Draft class that we saw historic levels of tanking last season — in the final months of the campaign, nine teams were actively not looking to win games, hoping to improve their lottery odds (even slightly). It bothered Commissioner Adam Silver and the teams’ owners so much that they changed the Draft Lottery rules. Again.
All that begs the question: Is the 2006 NBA Draft Class worth it? Where does this class rank historically?
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It’s impossible to answer that properly without a time machine, but it has the high-end talent to rank among the best. Let’s break it down — and consider where the top picks like AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cam Boozer would rank against other recent high draft picks.
2026 vs. All-Time great drafts
It’s unfair to ask if the 2026 Draft Class to live up to what are considered the two greatest draft classes in NBA history:
1984: Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, plus a lot of players who had good careers (Sam Perkins, Kevin Willis, Otis Thorpe, Michael Cage, Jerome Kersey).
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2023: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and another group of players who had impressive careers (Kyle Korver, David West, Boris Diaw, and Kendrick Perkins among them).
Get past those two, however, and the high-end potential plus depth of this 2026 class means it might be able to hang with any other year.
For example, if the high end for the 2026 class pans out — say two of Dybantsa, Peterson, Boozer and Caleb Wilson end up with Hall of Fame worthy careers, plus some of the deep group of point guards (Darius Acuff Jr., Mikel Brown, Kingston Flemmings, Keaton Wagler) pan out as All-Stars or high-level players — could we compare this to the first Draft Lottery class in 1985: Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Terry Porter, Detlef Schrempf, A.C. Green and Joe Dumars (among others).
Perhaps someday we can compare the 2026 class to the 1996 class: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen and Peja Stojakovic.
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Maybe a better high-end comparison is the 2009 class: Stephen Curry,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/where-does-2026-nba-draft-214013362.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-21 21:40:00
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