2026 NBA draft thread

[Smitty]

Sam Vecenie preseason mock from the Athletic

His tiers: 1-3, 4-17, and then 18 and beyond he views as question marks.
Vecenie's top 60:

1. Darryn Peterson, Kansas
   
2. AJ Dybantsa, BYU
   
3. Cam Boozer, Duke
   
4. Nate Ament, Tennessee
   
5. Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville
   
6. Chris Cenac Jr., Houston
   
7. Jayden Quaintance, Kentucky
   
8. Koa Peat, Arizona
   
9. Tounde Yessoufou, Baylor
   
10. LaBaron Philon, Alabama
    
11. Braylon Mullins, UConn
    
12. Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
    
13. Brayden Burries, Arizona
    
14. Dash Daniels, Melbourne
    
15. Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
    
16. Caleb Wilson, North Carolina
    
17. Thomas Haugh, Florida
    
18. Isiah Harwell, Houston
    
19. Karter Knox, Arkansas
    
20. Dwayne Aristode, Arizona
    
21. JoJo Tugler, Houston
    
22. Patrick Ngongba, Duke
    
23. Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
    
24. Karim Lopez, New Zealand Breakers
    
25. Dame Sarr, Duke
    
26. Miles Byrd, San Diego State
    
27. Milos Uzan, Houston
    
28. Neoklis Avdalas, Virginia Tech
    
29. Sergio De Larrea, Valencia
    
30. Isaiah Evans, Duke
    
31. Tahaad Pettiford, Auburn
    
32. Braden Smith, Purdue
    
33. Hannes Steinbach, Washington
    
34. Christian Anderson Jr., Texas Tech
    
35. Tomislav Ivisic, Illinois
    
36. JT Toppin, Texas Tech
    
37. Cameron Carr, Baylor
    
38. Nate Bittle, Oregon
    
39. Adam Atamna, ASVEL
    
40. Flory Bidunga, Kansas
    
41. Boogie Fland, Florida
    
42. Paul McNeil, NC State
    
43. Henri Veesaar, North Carolina
    
44. Alex Karaban, UConn
    
45. Anthony Robinson II, Missouri
    
46. Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State
    
47. Donovan Dent, UCLA
    
48. Richie Saunders, BYU
    
49. Darrion Williams, NC State
    
50. Alex Condon, Florida
    
51. Otega Oweh, Kentucky
    
52. Johann Grunloh, Virginia
    
53. Momo Faye, Senegal
    
54. Tucket DeVries, Indiana
    
55. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue
    
56. Ryan Conwell, Louisville
    
57. Mackenzie Mgbako, Texas A&M
    
58. Josh Dix, Creighton
    
59. Dailyn Swain, Texas
    
60. Silas Demary Jr., UConn
    

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Ament´s sample size is growing now with the last 10 games at 21/6/3 on 47/41/80 splits. At this point I think Ament and Brown will re-establish themselves as top 6 picks. Flemings last five games shooting at 42/13/80. Large part of the draft is confirmation bias and the scouts will look for players to confirm their initial assessments and those had Brown and Ament as the next tier.

Yep, here's a list to look back on, thanks to Chicagojk.

Looking through that list, I notice no Wagler or Flemings. It didn't take long for people to start talking about Flemings in the Top-10, then Wagler followed shortly after.