With just about 20 days to go until the 2025 NBA Draft all eyes are on the current crop of prospects but here at NBA Draft Room we’re always looking to the future – I just can’t help it!
As good as the 2025 class is, the 2026 class has a chance to be even better. This isn’t just my personal opinion. Next year’s class has been widely heralded as an elite crop of talent.
Some draft cycles don’t have a prospect worthy of being picked first. Some have many. Next year there are at least three talents at the top who all could make a case to be the no.1 pick and a fourth who might have more upside than anyone.
A Four-Headed Monster At The Top
Depth is great but draft classes are judged by the superstars they produce. The 2026 draft class has a four-headed monster of elite talent at the top and at this point it’s a toss-up for who will be drafted first. The four prospects listed below all have a level of talent that warrants being in consideration for the top spot, and they have one year of college basketball to show their stuff and make impressions on NBA scouts.
AJ Dybansta (BYU) has been the star recruit in the 2025 recruiting class for at least two years. He’s a 6-9 freight train of an athlete who can impose his will on the game. He’s a big time shot maker and is tough to stop with his combination of shooting ability, size, strength and aggressive drives to the basket. He’ll be bringing his elite talents to BYU next season and playing alongside one the most exciting players in college basketball in Rob Wright III, who transferred from Baylor. Dybansta is the early front-runner to be picked first next June but the competition is fierce.
Cameroon Boozer (Duke) might be the most polished high school big man I’ve ever seen. He’s got a pro game and has had a pro level game for the past two years. He’s a very solid and strong 6-9 power forward who doesn’t have elite measurables or sensational athleticism but has an elite skill level. He’s a terrific rebounder and a great all around player who is a near lock to go in the top four of next year’s draft. He’ll be joined at Duke by his twin brother Cayden, who is also a potential 2026 draft prospect.
Darryn Peterson (Kansas) has gone from being a really good player to holy-friction-mother-of-god that dude can ball. And he’s now arguably the best prospect in the class. At 6-5 with superb athleticism and body control Peterson looks like a 10 year vet with his polished offensive game. He’s smooth and efficient with his movements, gets to his spots, has great touch and feel on his shot and just clearly stands out as being more advanced and talented than anyone else on the floor. It’s going to be a heated battle for the top spot in next year’s draft and Peterson will be right there in the mix.
Nate Ament (Tennessee) is the newest name on this elite list, having skyrocketed up the recruit rankings over the past two seasons. He’s a long and wiry 6-9 wing with big time shot-making ability. His game is smooth. He’s a natural scorer with an effortless offensive game and a ton of natural talent. His game will continue to grow and expand as he adds strength to his frame and rounds out his defensive abilities. A year at Tennessee will do him well and help him turn up his defensive intensity.
Deeper Than The Deep Blue Sea
The current draft class (2025) looks like it has very good depth in the mid/late first round range but is very shallow in terms of second round depth. The 2026 draft won’t have that problem. There is a massive number of high level prospects returning to college basketball and many of them are likely to enter the 2026 draft.
A big reason for this is the NIL rules which entice prospects who would get drafted in the late first or second round to return to school. There are at least a dozen, if not two dozen, prospects who would have been drafted this year but have decided to stay in school to get millions of dollars in NIL money (let’s call them NILionaires) and to improve their draft stock for next year.
In my opinion this is a very good thing. Having freshmen enter the draft, go in the second round and then languish in the G League for a year or three isn’t exciting to see and probably doesn’t serve the players well. Having those freshmen return to school and earn great money while playing in the national spotlight, while also improving their games and their draft stock is a win, win, win all around.
NILionaires
College basketball is stacked with talent thanks in large part to those NIL rules. A few of the big name players who opted out of this year’s draft to become NILionaires include:
- Boogie Fland (Florida)
- JT Toppin (Texas Tech)
- Yaxel Lendeberg (Michigan)
- Karter Knox (Arkansas)
- Alex Karaban (UConn)
- Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn)
- Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
- Isaiah Evans (Duke)
- Tomsilav Ivisic (Illinois)
- Alex Condon (Florida)
- Labaron Philon (Alabama)
- Miles Byrd (San Diego State)
- Otega Oweh (Kentucky)
- PJ Haggerty (Kansas State)
…and so many more.
Alijah Arenas – Hoping For A Full Recovery
One of the most talented prospects in the 2025 recruiting class Alijah Arenas (USC) was involved in a series car accident in April, 2025 and was placed in a medically induced coma for a number of hours. In many ways he is lucky to be alive and his health and well being are far more important than whether he can play basketball in the near future. At this point his recovery seems to be going well. He suffered no major injuries and all signs point to him making a full recovery. Wishing him the best!
Lots Of Burly Bigs With Bounce
While the top of the draft is loaded with talented wings there is also a whole host of big, bouncy PF/C’s who project as first rounders or earl second rounders.
This group has a bit of everything. There are 5-star freshmen at the top, a special talent in Jayden Quaintance who is going into his second college season after being too young to enter the 2025 draft, plus a few other very highly regarded incoming sophomores in Flory Bidunga and Donnie Freeman. The international class has a few PF/C prospects who flash big upside and there are about a dozen upperclassmen who could get first round looks in the 2026 draft.
At this early stage my top 20 ranked PF/Cs for the 2026 draft are:
- Cameroon Boozer (Duke)
- Chris Cenac Jr. (Houston)
- Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky)
- Caleb Wilson (North Carolina)
- Tomislav Ivisic (Illinois)
- Flory Bidunga (Kansas)
- Donnie Freeman (Syracuse)
- JT Toppin (Texas Tech)
- Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan)
- Hugo Facorat (France)
- Magoon Gwath (San Diego State)
- Alex Condon (Florida)
- Henry Veesaar (North Carolina)
- Zvonimir Ivisic (Illinois)
- Thomas Haugh (Florida)
- Malachi Moreno (Kentucky)
- Patrick Ngongba II (Duke)
- Baye Ndongo (Georgia Tech)
- Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati)
- Morez Johnson (Michigan)
And honestly, the list could keep on going.
There are a few college teams that have an embarrassment of depth upfront including:
- Michigan with Morez Johnson, Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara
- North Carolina with Caleb Wilson, Henry Veesaar, Jalen Washington
- Kentucky with Jayden Quaintance, Malachi Moreno, Brandon Garrison
- Duke with Cameroon Boozer, Patrick Ngongba II, Nik Khamenia
- Florida with Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu
- Houston with Chris Cenac Jr., Jojo Tugler
- Illinois with Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic
Bottom line is there are a lot of talented PF/C/s in next year’s class. This is a really, really strong group.
Wings And Things
Another position where the 2026 draft is stacked is on the wing. The shooting guards and small forwards/wings in this class are deep and elite. The top of this list features a number of potential stars and there’s awesome depth going well beyond the second round. 2026 could be one of those years where it feels like we should have three rounds of the NBA Draft.
The Top 25 Wings For The 2026 NBA Draft
- AJ Dybansta (BYU)
- Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
- Nate Ament (Tennessee)
- Dash Daniels (Australia)
- Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor)
- Alijah Arenas (USC)
- Karim Lopez (Mexico)
- Isiah Harwell (Houston)
- Koa Peat (Arizona)
- Isiah Evans (Duke
- Brayden Burries (Arizona)
- Dame Sarr (Duke)
- Karter Knox (Arkansas)
- Alex Karaban (UConn)
- Miles Byrd (San Diego State)
- Malik Thomas (Arkansas)
- Josan Sanon (St. John’s)
- Kanon Catchings (BYU)
- Coan Carr (Michigan State)
- Ian Jackson (St. John’s)
- Otega Oweh (Kentucky)
- Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame)
- Billy Richmond (Arkansas)
- Adrian Wooley (Louisville)
- Ryan Cowell (Louisville)
Just like with the bigs, this list could go on and on. There are literally dozens more wings that are on NBA scouts watch lists for the 2026 draft. It is a stacked group!
What’s The Point?
Overall it’s a very good draft class but there is one position that is a bit softer than the rest, the point guard position. There are a few very good prospects, most notably Darius Acuff (Arkansas) and fast rising Mikel Brown (Louisville) but I’m not sure there’s an elite guy on this list. The position was helped by the return of dynamic small guard Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn) who could be a first rounder, along with the returns of both Boogie Fland and Labaron Philon. Bennitt Stirtz is also a very interesting prospect who I see as a first round talent.
One year away from the draft here’s how I see
The Top 20 Point Guards For The 2026 NBA Draft:
- Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas)
- Mikel Brown (Louisville)
- Bennett Stirtz (Iowa)
- Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn)
- Silas Demary Jr. (UConn)
- Labaron Philon (Alabama)
- Boogie Fland (Florida)
- Cayden Boozer (Duke)
- Kingston Flemings (Houston)
- PJ Haggerty (Kansas State)
- Rob Wright III (BYU)
- Xavian Lee (Florida)
- John Mobley Jr. (Ohio State)
- D.J. Wagner (Arkansas)
- Braden Smith (Purdue)
- Milos Uzan (Houston)
- Jaland Lowe (Kentucky)
- Mario Saint-Supery (Gonzaga)
- Jaden Bradley (Arizona)
- Elmarko Jackson (Kansas)
Overall, this is a solid group with some potential high level NBA guards but no clear superstar type of prospect. And unlike the other position groups it was harder to get to 20 names.
A Solid-Ish International Group
At this point there doesn’t appear to be an elite level/franchise-altering talent among the international prospects but it does look like a solid group with a few potential lottery picks. And there are sure to be a few names that fly up draft boards in the coming years to make this group even stronger.
The college NIL rules are also having a major impact on international players with many of the top talents coming over to the States to play college basketball a year before being draft eligible, taking a lot of the depth from the ranks of the true internationals (those still playing overseas). As a massive college basketball fan I love seeing all of this young talent playing ball in the U.S.
With more than a year to go until the 2026 draft here is a look at the top 10 prospects from overseas.
- Dash Daniels (Australia)
- Karim Lopez (Mexico)
- Hugo Facorat (France)
- Noa Kouakou-Heugue (France)
- Sergio De Larrea (Spain)
- Jahel Trefle (France)
- Luigi Suigo (Italy)
- Declan Duru (Germany)
- Dominykas Daubaris (Lithuania)
- Jonas Boulefaa (France)
In past years this top 10 list (at this time of year) would be loaded with exciting talent and would be hard to cut down to just 10. With the changing landscape of youth basketball it’s getting harder to find 10 prospects that definitely deserve to be on this list.
And 2026 could be the first year in a while that France doesn’t have a lottery pick. We’ll see how it shakes out.
The Best Basketball Prospect To Ever Come From Mexican
While we’re on the topic of international players, a big shout out to Karim Lopez who by all accounts is the best prospect in the history of Mexican basketball. While it’s clear that Mexico isn’t exactly a hotbed of talent, it’s still very cool to see such a high level talent come from the country and perhaps he’ll help inspire a new wave of good basketball players from Mexico.
Late Risers
One of the reason I like looking far ahead and putting together future mock drafts and writing articles like this is to see if there are some players that are off the radar now, or far down the list, who fly up the draft board over the course of the next year. There are almost certainly a few 2026 first round picks who didn’t even get mentioned here, maybe even a lottery pick or two. That’s part of the fun of the draft cycle!
One other player who could jump to near the top of the 2026 mock draft is Miikka Muurinen, a Finnish born player who now plays for AZ Compass Prep. Miikka was born in March of 2007 and so could possibly reclassify and head to college this coming season, making him draft eligible. For now I have him near the top of my 2027 mock but if he does reclassify he’d jump into the top 15 of next year’s mock.
June 15th Deadline
Although the NCAA early entry deadline has come and gone the NBA withdrawal deadline is June 15th, meaning international players (or those planning to play overseas next season) can still withdraw their names from the 2025 draft. I imagine we’ll see a few international players withdraw before June 15th, but probably not any big names that will have a big impact on the 2026 draft class.
Final Initial Thoughts
A lot will change in a year. New names will rise and some big names will fall but whichever way it shakes out 2026 promises to be a draft year rich with talent, star power, depth and a whole lot of intrigue. College basketball is stacked with talent and it promises to be a really fun season and draft cycle.
Follow along throughout the year for lots of updates and keep an eye on my 2026 Mock Draft for the latest.
And now back to your regularly scheduled program (2025 Mock)