2026 NBA draft thread

[Smitty]

Watching....

Peterson is a full notch above everyone on that court including Dybsanta

He’s got it going right now for sure. Fun to watch!

[ThisIStheYear]

Peterson is definitely the number 1 pick. Savant skills. He’ll be a 1st team all NBA player.

[Winter]

Peterson only plays 3 minutes in the 2nd half.

Whatever he has going on with his legs is a problem. He better hope that gets fixed before the draft.

[Chicagojk]

Well at least we know one of the 3 Js do t know ball

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBA_Draft/s/vzwVyFyIpy

[Smitty]

Peterson only plays 3 minutes in the 2nd half.

Whatever he has going on with his legs is a problem. He better hope that gets fixed before the draft.

That’s why I purposely said he’s got it going “right now”. Never know with him…

[Dirknows]

Well at least we know one of the 3 Js do t know ball

https://www.reddit.com/r/NBA_Draft/s/vzwVyFyIpy

Such a click bait take. At worst he goes 2 if someone really believes Peterson is Kobe 2.0. Dybantsa, Boozer, Wilson, all have major flaws in their games relative to Cooper.

[ThisIStheYear]

Yes. If GMs are convinced this college injury thing is just him being careful until he’s in the league, Peterson might go over the more physically durable Flagg, but otherwise, Flagg is on a different tier. But Peterson, man he’s good. I have t seen anything like it in college since the Michael, Larry, Bird days. You can’t take your eyes off of him when he’s on the court. He completely changes the geometry of the game. It’s like watching how good Kyrie would be if he were 6-5 and in the top 15% of NBA athletes. There’s almost no way the Mavs wouldn’t take him number 1 if they lucked out again.

[haveitall]

Anyone like Braylon Mullins? He looks very similar to Reggie Miller in highlights. Super quick release. May be realistic at 9 th spot.

[JamesConway912]

Wagler with another stellar performance. Meanwhile the Mavs drop to #9 after MIL looses to Boston.

I think Wagler will be selected behind Flemings. He is extremely impressive right now. After that the race is wide open Id assume.

Ament might get back into the top 5 conversation if he continues to play like he has the last weeks. His tools are jus too good but he has a lot of catching up to do.

I think the Mavs can essentially cross off all of:

Peterson / Dybantsa / Boozer / Wilson / Flemings / Wagler

given that they are widely regarded as the top 6 right now and all just keep producing massive numbers.

Right now the Mavs are probably looking at:

- Ament
- Acuff Jr
- Mikel Brown Jr
- Mullins
- Philon

with one or two of them probably not being there when they draft. 

I still think it’s VERY possible they go on another run to finish off the season in the 30-35 win territory. Especially if they hold onto all their vets at the TDL and with AD looking to make another 5-10 game stint before the inevitable happens and he gets injured again.

[Chicagojk]

Some solid performance for potential lottery picks this weekend.

Koa Peat on #1 and undefeated Arizona scored 21 points in a win.  He had two threes too.  He needs to show he can shoot that.  His dad was an NFL offensive lineman and some of his brothers played football in college.  No surprise.  

https://x.com/TheHoopHerald/status/2017717574721507564

Braylon Mullins on the #2 team in the country came back from a concussion to score 16

https://x.com/SportsCastProd/status/2017798415036338613

Mikel Brown with a solid game coming off the bench

My personal favorite to watch, Thomas Haugh, scores 22 with a dominant performance with two other Florida front court members in a win

https://x.com/SportsCastProd/status/2018055072756662743

Nate Ament scored over 20 in a win. Only shot 4-16 though but got to the line a ton. Some good games from him recently. I did not see this past one.

[ThisIStheYear]

Unfortunately, Tankathon now has the right top 6 guys as the top 6 guys, with Wagler moving in. Honestly, they’re the only six I have strong feelings about being can’t miss prospects. If the Mavs don’t draw top 4 they’ll have to make a high pressure, uncertain pick. Yaxel is easily the next best statistically and in terms of the scouting if you disregard age, but he’s 23.7 years old. He does have an incredible offensive and defensive rating and has plenty of size and athleticism. The Tankathon assessment shows him with no weakness other than age. I’d probably take him despite his age, but the two young, no defense point guards are also contenders.

[Winter]

Unfortunately, Tankathon now has the right top 6 guys as the top 6 guys, with Wagler moving in. Honestly, they’re the only six I have strong feelings about being can’t miss prospects. If the Mavs don’t draw top 4 they’ll have to make a high pressure, uncertain pick. Yaxel is easily the next best statistically and in terms of the scouting if you disregard age, but he’s 23.7 years old. He does have an incredible offensive and defensive rating and has plenty of size and athleticism. The Tankathon assessment shows him with no weakness other than age. I’d probably take him despite his age, but the two young, no defense point guards are also contenders.

I agree about Yaxel and I think a lot of analysts do as well. There's just not much weakness in his game anywhere. He's pretty much ready to go right out of the box.

All the PGs are good but have some weakness. I would probably go with Mullins as a SG or Brown at PG.

[Dirknows]

I agree about Yaxel and I think a lot of analysts do as well. There's just not much weakness in his game anywhere. He's pretty much ready to go right out of the box.

All the PGs are good but have some weakness. I would probably go with Mullins as a SG or Brown at PG.

Mullins per 36 averages are almost identical to Bookers when he was in college, although Mullins is a starter and Booker came off the bench. I do see similarities between the two, with Mullins being a better defender but Booker the better passer. I'm not sure Mullins lasts past 7-8 especially if he has a strong tournament.

[Chicagojk]

Nate Ament with 28 tonight

https://x.com/secnetwork/status/20188767...81344?s=61

[Winter]

Who do we like now in the bottom of the 1st round?

Brayden Burries?

[Chicagojk]

Who do we like now in the bottom of the 1st round?

Brayden Burries?

Ha.

Late firsts/early seconds are obviously stabs in the dark.   This draft may or may not be deep.   I think some will go back to school.   It should be comparable to last year.

Last years bottom five was: Jase Richards, Ben saraf, Danny Wolf, Hugo Gonzalz, Liam Mcneeley and Yanic Konan.   I would be fine with most of those guys as an end of first round pick.

[JamesConway912]

Nate Ament with 28 tonight

https://x.com/secnetwork/status/20188767...81344?s=61

Ament‘s % are slowly getting better, what sticks out is the ability to get to the line. If Wagler is not there I could see the intrigue with him over guys like Acuf or Mikel Brown. But he really needs to maintain his level of play for a while now.

Still rooting for a monstrous tank to end the season now but its going to be hard. We’ll see what happens. With the AD trade they really signaled that the rebuild has started and they now have a bunch of young dudes that they kind just throw out there to experiment.



As for targets for the OKC pick (currently projected to be #30):

SOME mock drafts still have Christian Anderson in that range. I find that hard to believe but that would be a homerun.

Avdalas is playing terrible right now. If he declares he might be there. 

Cam Carr is built super weird but I could see him have a Gerald Green type career. INSANE athlete who can shoot it. Outside of that I don’t know much.

Just a good thing to have two more shots at young talent in the draft. Brunson was an early 2nd, if a guy like that is somewhere in the draft they now at least have two more trys at finding someone who can help them.

[khaled1987]

We could bet on international that late, Karim Lopez, Dash Daniels & Sergio de Larrea are strong candidates here.

Bennett Stirtz could fall that late, he could be a solid backup PG

[Winter]

Meleek Thomas 6'5" SG Arkansas
39% 3-pt%
3.4 rebounds
2.7 asst
1.4 stl
15 ppg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ypEAZBrIE

Low 1st-round or early 2nd round expectation

[Mavs2021]

Meleek Thomas 6'5" SG Arkansas
39% 3-pt%
3.4 rebounds
2.7 asst
1.4 stl
15 ppg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ypEAZBrIE

Low 1st-round or early 2nd round expectation

I noticed him, too. He´s either the next Iverson or the next Iverson. That guy carries the ball on literally every dribble. He just needs to be so persistent with it and so good at basketball that the refs just give up calling it. Call it the LeBron/Giannis five steps rule.

Dash Daniels, the younger brother of Dyson, is also having a 2nd round projection. He can shoot 16% from three as a 2nd rounder, if the rest of his game is as good as his brother.