2026 NBA draft thread

[Chicagojk]

It may be a little early, but I have two questions:

How deep does the quality go in the upcoming draft? I know there are still unknowns like who declares and who stays. How does NIL money affect the decisions? etc. etc.

We talk a lot about getting draft picks in the "Trade and FA" discussion thread, but how valuable are any picks outside of the top 10? The last draft was originally thought to be a deep draft, but NIL money let a lot of lower 1st and 2nd round players to un-declare and go back to earn $$ playing college ball. So I'm struggling with how you can take a pick in trade during late January and have any sense of the real value before May or June. Unless it's a high lottery pick, that is.

Here is Vecenie's rankings about a month ago.  Things will change but just a noob's take is there is a tier for the top 3.  Then maybe Wilson is by himself in tier 2.  Tier 3 is maybe 5-10/11....players who will need more time, but could be really good.  Will probably be some disappointments in this grouping though.  Tier 4 is 11-18.  I like some of these guys in this range.  So if they got a pick outside the lottery this could be a solid player.  Some of the guys Vecenie has ranked in the teens I am a little lower on though.  I expect the 20-40 range to change quite a bit as we go through the season.   


1) Darryn Peterson

1. Cameron Boozer
   
2. AJ Dybantsa
   
3. Caleb Wilson
   
4. Mikel Brown
   
5. Nate Ament
   
6. Kingston Flemings
   
7. Koa Peat
   
8. Jayden Quaintance
   
9. Cameron Carr
   
10. Braylon Mullins
    
11. Thomas Haugh
    
12. Labaron Philon
    
13. Hannes Steinbach
    
14. Yaxel Lendeborg
    
15. Darius Acuff
    
16. Dash Daniels
    
17. Chris Cenac
    
18. Patrick Ngongba
    
19. Bennett Stritz
    
20. Tounde Yessoufou
    
21. Karim Lopez
    
22. Maleek Thomas
    
23. Neoklis Avdalas
    
24. Isaiah Evans
    
25. Dame Sarr
    
26. Amari Allen
    
27. Henri Veesar
    
28. Christian Anderson
    
29. Matt Able