2026 NBA draft thread

[michaeltex]

While we've talked a lot about how good this draft was, I just watched a video grading this last year's draft with Flagg. I was really surprised at how strong this 1st round was.  In the top 10, Tre Johnson had a bad year, and Khaman Malach could have played better... but that's about it. The top 4 players last year may be as good as the top 4 players this year. And the bottom half of the draft had some very good players in Cedric Coward and D Queen, and some very serviceable players like Gonzales and Newell. Yang Hansen was a big fat "F" but overall this draft was good.

1. Mavericks draft Cooper Flagg (Duke)
2. Spurs draft Dylan Harper (Rutgers)
3. 76ers draft VJ Edgecombe (Baylor)
4. Hornets draft Kon Knueppel (Duke)
5. Jazz draft Ace Bailey (Rutgers)
6. Wizards draft Tre Johnson (Texas)
7. Pelicans draft Jeremiah Fears (Oklahoma)
8. Nets draft Egor Demin (BYU)
9. Raptors draft Collin Murray-Boyles (South Carolina)
10. Rockets draft Khaman Maluach (Duke) – Traded to Suns
11. Trail Blazers draft Cedric Coward (Washington State) – Traded to Grizzlies
12. Bulls draft Noa Essengue (Ratiopharm Ulm)
13. Hawks draft Derik Queen (Maryland) – Traded to Pelicans
14. Spurs draft Carter Bryant (Arizona)
15. Thunder draft Thomas Sorber (Georgetown)
16. Grizzlies draft Yang Hansen (Qingdao) – Traded to Trail Blazers
17. Timberwolves draft Joan Beringer (Cedevita Olimpija)
18. Wizards draft Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida) – Traded to Jazz
19. Nets draft Nolan Traoré (Saint-Quentin BB)
20. Heat draft Kasparas Jakučionis (Illinois)
21. Jazz draft Will Riley (Illinois) – Traded to Wizards
22. Hawks draft Drake Powell (North Carolina) – Traded to Nets
23. Pelicans draft Asa Newell (Georgia) – Traded to Hawks
24. Thunder draft Nique Clifford (Colorado State) – Traded to Kings
25. Magic draft Jase Richardson (Michigan State)
26. Nets draft Ben Saraf (Ratiopharm Ulm)
27. Nets draft Danny Wolf (Michigan)
28. Celtics draft Hugo González (Real Madrid)
29. Suns draft Liam McNeeley (Connecticut) –  Traded to Hornets
30. Clippers draft Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Penn State)

It will be interesting to compare this upcoming draft with the 2025 draft.

2 observations...

1/3 of the selected players were traded. I know there are always trades, pre and post pick, but that seems like a high number. With cap crunch teams like OKC, could that be a way to get talent without having to actually make the pick?

This was the first draft that was seriously impacted by NIL money. Some of the late FRPs might have otherwise been SRPs. Could happen again this year, so maybe #30 isn't so valuable since it comes with 2 years of guaranteed money.