2026 NBA draft thread

[Chicagojk]

Mikel brown like Anfernee  Simons?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaBe7VByf...RzaXhzam9z

[HoosierDaddyKid]

ESPN and ABC’s presentation of the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday, June 23, averaged 4.2 million viewers, up 10% year over year. The audience peaked with 5.5 million viewers during the 8:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

ESPN Press Room

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Damichael Cole: Cam Boozer said he chose number 27 because his mom wore it in college when she played college volleyball

Twitter

[Winter]

We just signed Darin Green jr for summer league

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/pla...njr-1.html

Okee dokee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAsxtlRQSdE

"The 6-foot-5 guard played two seasons at Florida State University before taking his talents overseas. He shot well during his final season at FSU, making 40.6 percent of his field goal attempts and 38 percent of his 3-pointers.

The sharpshooter, an undrafted free agent, played for the SPD Radnicki earlier this season. He played in 15 games for the Serbian team, making 49.3 percent of his 3-point shots. It was a testament to his ability to take over games and help space out offenses.

Two weeks ago, he scored 21 points for the Hapoel Holon team in Israel. One thing that stood out was his shooting, where he converted 63.6 percent on his long-range attempts and 58.3 percent of his overall shots. Simply, his hot shooting proves just how valuable a steal he was, even after the draft ended."

[Winter]

So after this move.... I'm now in the Darin Green fanclub

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HOUqBr1C68U

[Knutsen]

Would not surprise me one bit. He would be better off even just signing a 2 way and switching between the NBA and the GLeague rather than staying there. The war will only get worse in Russia.

Talentwise I am extremely impressed by what I have seen. I think a lot points to him having flown under the radar due to the war. He is super fluid with the ball and a good athlete for a player his size. Nothing like the type of players you usually get that late in the draft.

I really hope they alle come over to play in Summer league.

Are there any restrictions out of political reasons for Russian athletes playing (=working) in the US right now? 

I don’t follow the NHL, but there should be lots of examples from the last few drafts I guess.

[myconsumerclub]

Sergio De Larrea - Defense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhvIXqxz7_M

Youngest MVP - Sergio De Larrea - 21 Pts, 2 Ast Highlights｜Real Madrid vs Valencia Basket｜2025.09.28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1pCzL7NB_8

Vsevolod Ishchenko is an UNREAL Young Talent ? 2025-26 Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-lQyeUxu0c

The Dallas Mavericks Have a CLEAR Objective Drafting Tobi Lawal & Vsevolod Ishchenko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKzEGo97ac

Morez Johnson Is the Best Big Man in the 2026 NBA Draft | Full Scouting Report
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mqC24YUqMg

Sergio DE LARREA'S TOP PLAYS from the 2025-26 Season
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpNn90_UCyI

"Vsevolod Ishchenko | Best highlights of the young player in the 2025/26 season."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXUZr9VTPY

Vsevolod Ishchenko NBA Draft Scouting Report | Locomotiv Kuban | Dallas Mavericks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG4BsTTJUvA

[speedkilz88]

Are there any restrictions out of political reasons for Russian athletes playing (=working) in the US right now? 

I don’t follow the NHL, but there should be lots of examples from the last few drafts I guess.

I don't think so, not from the US side anyway.  Who knows from the Putin side of this.

[Dundalis]

He looks nowhere near as good as our Russian prospect.

I would assume its probably a bit easier to look good playing in a relatively bad pro league, vs another prospect playing in the second best pro league in the world?

[dirkfansince1998]

I would assume its probably a bit easier to look good playing in a relatively bad pro league, vs another prospect playing in the second best pro league in the world?

It's difficult to evaluate the quality of the competition. Russian league was one of the best in europe. Maybe slightly worse than league ACB. Best teams from Russia also were among the top contenders in EuroLeague each year. Question is how much of that talent is left after the EuroLeague ban and the exodus of most international players.

[Mavs2021]

I would assume its probably a bit easier to look good playing in a relatively bad pro league, vs another prospect playing in the second best pro league in the world?

Not sure how good the quality is right now due to the war, but CSKA historically is the 2nd best team in Europe behind Real Madrid and the Russian league was easily top 5 in the world. Ishchenko´s team was in the EuroLeague Final Four in 2016.  Just checked how much the league has suffered under the war, but CSKA still fielding Serbian international Luka Mitrovic, former French 1st round pick Livio Jean Charles, three Americans including our "own" Antonius Cleveland. Zenit has former 1st round picks and NBA players Luka Samanic, Johnny Juzang, Noah Vonleh, Andre Roberson and Alex Poythress. Kazan and Kuban (Ishchenko) both have five Americans on their rosters. It might not be Spain, but it´s  still a pretty good league at the top.

[mvossman]

I have noted that there were several times in late games where Flagg served as the ball handler in pick and rolls, and looked really good, if not quite point guard-esque. No one acknowledged it. You don't want him being the only creational option, but I think part of the building around Flagg "conundrum" involves people grossly underrating his creational abilities - and his sky's-the-limit growth headroom to get even better (and better... and better...).

I think some folks are grossly underestimating how much help Flagg will need. If you look at his top end comps when they won:

Kawhi had Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet, all in or near their primes. 

Tatum had Brown, Jrue and White, all in or near their primes. 

Giannis had Jrue and Middleton, all in their primes. 

I agree that Flagg will get better and better.  I am counting on him reaching the level of those guys. But by the time he reaches the age of those greats when they won, Kyrie will no longer be a factor. We don’t have anybody else on the roster that can help on the creation front. That is why I wanted Burries. He has a reasonable chance to turn into one of those guys. Their top priority at this point is to find those guys.

[Scott41theMavs]

I think some folks are grossly underestimating how much help Flagg will need. If you look at his top end comps when they won:

Kawhi had Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet, all in or near their primes. 

Tatum had Brown, Jrue and White, all in or near their primes. 

Giannis had Jrue and Middleton, all in their primes. 

I agree that Flagg will get better and better.  I am counting on him reaching the level of those guys. But by the time he reaches the age of those greats when they won, Kyrie will no longer be a factor. We don’t have anybody else on the roster that can help on the creation front. That is why I wanted Burries. He has a reasonable chance to turn into one of those guys. Their top priority at this point is to find those guys.

Sure. I said you don't want him to be the only creator. 

I would argue that drafting Morez over Burries indicates that the FO is more willing actually to have Coop do less on defense and more on offense.

[Smitty]

Sure. I said you don't want him to be the only creator. 

I would argue that drafting Morez over Burries indicates that the FO is more willing actually to have Coop do less on defense and more on offense.

As it stands now, they don’t have a choice. He will have to be the primary initiator on offense, whether we like it or not. We’ll see how it shakes out in the next few weeks.

[Smitty]

On offense:
Flagg-Kyrie-Max-PJW-MoJo

On defense:
Max-Kyrie-PJW-Flagg-MoJo

That’s the simplest way to look at it anyway.

[Mavs2021]

I think some folks are grossly underestimating how much help Flagg will need. If you look at his top end comps when they won:

Kawhi had Lowry, Siakam and VanVleet, all in or near their primes. 

Tatum had Brown, Jrue and White, all in or near their primes. 

Giannis had Jrue and Middleton, all in their primes. 

I agree that Flagg will get better and better.  I am counting on him reaching the level of those guys. But by the time he reaches the age of those greats when they won, Kyrie will no longer be a factor. We don’t have anybody else on the roster that can help on the creation front. That is why I wanted Burries. He has a reasonable chance to turn into one of those guys. Their top priority at this point is to find those guys.

But they have three years to develop Johnson into Siakam instead of Burries into Lowry, and by 2028 (when Flagg is fully ready), they´ll have 4-5 1sts to trade (as it stands) and at least one summer with cap space to chase a FVV signing. I think what we have seen is that they´ll build one veteran team for Flagg´s development and one team for the start of Flagg´s prime. Drafting Burries and Bradley now would be the Cuban approach, where he could never big picture and take one step back to take two steps forward. Maybe they simply did not rate Burries that highly. They certainly had more information on the Michigan guys to make an educated projection.

[mvossman]

Sure. I said you don't want him to be the only creator. 

I would argue that drafting Morez over Burries indicates that the FO is more willing actually to have Coop do less on defense and more on offense.

I think it’s an indication that they liked one player over the other and were not taking current roster fit into account. like at all.

[Scott41theMavs]

I think it’s an indication that they liked one player over the other and were not taking current roster fit into account. like at all.

OK.

[mvossman]

But they have three years to develop Johnson into Siakam instead of Burries into Lowry, and by 2028 (when Flagg is fully ready), they´ll have 4-5 1sts to trade (as it stands) and at least one summer with cap space to chase a FVV signing. I think what we have seen is that they´ll build one veteran team for Flagg´s development and one team for the start of Flagg´s prime. Drafting Burries and Bradley now would be the Cuban approach, where he could never big picture and take one step back to take two steps forward. Maybe they simply did not rate Burries that highly. They certainly had more information on the Michigan guys to make an educated projection.

If Rez becomes Siakam then it will obviously be a huge win. I think the odds of that are slimmer than Burries becoming a viable creator. I have already posted that I think Rez fits a need that most contending rosters have. I’m just saying this roster will need a lot more creation regardless of how elite Flagg becomes

[KillerLeft]

If Rez becomes Siakam then it will obviously be a huge win. I think the odds of that are slimmer than Burries becoming a viable creator. I have already posted that I think Rez fits a need that most contending rosters have. I’m just saying this roster will need a lot more creation regardless of how elite Flagg becomes

Siakam is one of the better, more underrated high-post iso players in the league. Since Johnson isn't bringing those skills to the table, even on a rookie level, I'd say he's very unlikely to even be asked to develop those skills in the NBA. I guess the chances are never ZERO, but I frankly don't believe he'll ever remind one of Siakam on the offensive end. 

I believe he WILL be a positive as a spot up shooter, and maybe sooner than people think. I believe he'll be a positive as a cutter, offensive rebounder. I believe he's already a good screener, and that will improve. I think he's going to easily contribute as a vertical spacer. I think the area of plausible growth is: can he become a contributing passer/decision maker on the short roll, like Lively was starting to be? Can he be DHO hub at the top, like Lively was starting to be?

Frankly, a better version of Siakam on offense is what my vision would be for Flagg, not for Johnson.