NBA Draft 2026 Big Board: Final ranking of the top 100 prospects in loaded class

Here’s my final ranking of the top 100 prospects in the 2026 NBA Draft (8 p.m ET, ABC). Also, be sure to check out the 2026 NBA Draft Guide, which features multiple big boards, a full two-round mock draft, and scouting reports on all 100 of these prospects.

1. Cameron Boozer, 6-8, Duke freshman forward

At 6-foot-8 and 253 pounds, Boozer is the most polished player in the class. He scores from the post with both footwork and power, hits 40% of his 3s on high volume, and has enough handle to run offense as a point forward. He shifts between those modes based on what the defense gives him, and that adaptability led to a 35-win season at Duke and the Naismith Player of the Year. The worry is that he’s not a vertical athlete and the foundation of all that production — overpowering smaller defenders — gets diminished against NBA length. Plus, he’s a modern tweener on defense, lacking the explosiveness and size to protect the rim full-time and the lateral quickness to switch onto guards. With the bloodline of two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer, the team that drafts him is betting that skill, adaptability, and a track record of winning at every level all lead to superstardom.

2. Darryn Peterson, 6-5, Kansas freshman guard

Peterson is a buttery smooth scorer with a blend of fluid body control and positional size that gives him the ingredients to become an elite NBA player. At the high school level, he was a dynamic playmaker who used his burst to get into the teeth of defenses and generate buckets for himself and his teammates, while also showing off the kind of shot-making that draws comparisons to Hall of Famers. At Kansas, he thrived in an off-ball role, stroking jumpers out of movement actions and showing he can scale up or down depending on what a roster needs. Even when he isn’t scoring, he’s a high-impact defender who causes chaos off-ball and has the 6-foot-10 wingspan to switch screens. The concern isn’t his game. It’s his body. He missed 11 of 35 games and pulled himself out of others due to cramping, capping off one of the weirdest freshman seasons in recent memory. Questions about his burst, his availability, and what exactly is going on under the hood are going to define how NBA front offices feel about him at the top of this draft.

3. AJ Dybantsa, 6-9, BYU freshman forward

Dybantsa could become one of the NBA’s most unstoppable shot-creators. At 6-foot-9, he has a special blend of athletic tools the way he bends, shifts, and explodes with the ball in his hands. Dybantsa led the nation with 25.5 points per game while breaking Danny Ainge’s 48-year-old BYU freshman scoring record with a 43-point eruption. He gets to the rim at will, cooks in the midrange, draws fouls at a high rate, and displays point forward potential. What will determine his upside is whether he can become a knockdown 3-point shooter, as well as a more impactful defender to take full advantage of his physical tools. But the native of Brockton, Mass., has a tremendously high floor with his scoring skill alone.

4. Caleb Wilson, 6-9, North Carolina freshman big

Wilson is the most gifted athlete in the draft class. He’s 6-foot-9 with springs for legs. When he’s flying above the rim, finishing through contact, and chasing down every shot in his area code, he looks like a future franchise cornerstone. But the conversation changes when you watch his jumper because he hasn’t shown any consistency as a shooter at any level. Still, even without the jumper, he has star upside.

5. Mikel Brown, 6-4, Louisville freshman guard

When Brown is in the zone, he has an unstoppable pull-up jumper, an ambidextrous finishing ability, and the quick reads to rifle passes before the defense has time to react. He had a 45-point breakout performance in February after a back injury dogged him all freshman year and then ended his year later in the month. The absences muddy the evaluation and leave real questions about his consistency that may not get answered until he’s fully healthy.

6. Darius Acuff, 6-2, Arkansas freshman guard

Acuff is not the biggest guard or the most explosive athlete, but he reads defenses like someone who’s been in the league for a decade. He emerged as a freshman as a skilled, low-turnover playmaker. And that’s not even what he’s best at. Acuff is a wiry scorer who can get a bucket from anywhere on the floor with a quick trigger, slippery handle, and a feel for manipulating defenses. He has a knack for clutch moments too. The question that follows every undersized guard into the draft is whether the brilliance survives contact with bigger, longer, faster defenders.

7. Keaton Wagler, 6-5, Illinois freshman guard

Wagler showed up at Illinois as a four-star recruit with no expectations of becoming a one-and-done. But he quickly became the orchestrator of a high-powered Illinois offense with his high-IQ playmaking and crafty scoring. Then he scored 46 at Purdue against a top-ranked team in the country — the most points by any freshman in Big Ten history. Then he kept rolling, and led the team to an unexpected Final Four appearance. Now he’s a lottery lock, but he’s a quirky player in that he logged zero dunks. To become an NBA star, Wagler needs to overcome a lack of traditional athleticism. But the best case is that his feel for the game is enough for him to continue ascending.

8. Aday Mara, 7-3, Michigan junior center

Mara stepped on UCLA’s campus as a lottery-projected center from Spain. Then he fell off draft boards during two forgettable seasons there before transferring to Michigan and becoming one of the best true 5s in the country on his way to winning the national championship. He reads the floor like a guard, finishes with both hands, and swats shots with elite timing. The complication is he doesn’t shoot from outside, makes below 60% of his free throws, and opponents are going to attack him on the perimeter.

9. Brayden Burries, 6-4, Arizona freshman guard

Burries arrived at Arizona as a top-10 recruit, started slow, and then erupted once conference play began, helping lead his team to the Final Four. He’s a physical, versatile scorer who can beat you from all three levels, rebounds like a forward, and competes hard on defense. But he’s a methodical creator rather than an explosive one, and his shooting history before Arizona gives scouts reason to wonder whether the efficiency is real or a blip.

10. Kingston Flemings, 6-4, Houston freshman guard

At age 4, Flemings chased a ball into the street and got hit by a car, and ended up in the hospital with a fractured hip, a punctured spleen, and road rash. He says it changed his outlook on life, and it sure looks like it given the incredible effort and passion he plays with. He plays with surgical midrange touch, an explosive first step, and passing vision of a true point guard who can run an offense. But Flemings is also 183 pounds, midrange-heavy in a 3-point league, and watched his efficiency crater against the stiffest competition late in the season. The question is whether his scoring package translates to NBA length and spacing, or whether opposing scouts figure him out the same way late-season defenses did.

11. Morez Johnson, 6-9, Michigan sophomore forward

You know the guy on a championship team who never gets enough credit nationally? The one who sets the bone-crushing screen that springs the star, then immediately sprints to the rim for the lob, then turns around and blows up the other team’s pick-and-roll on the other end all in one sequence? That’s Morez Johnson. He transferred from Illinois to Michigan and became the connective tissue of the national champions as a 251-pound wrecking ball with surprisingly soft hands and the defensive IQ to guard 1 through 5 in a switch-heavy scheme. The catch is he’s not quite big enough to be a true center and not yet proven enough as a shooter to guarantee he spaces the floor. But even without a jumper, Johnson has a long future ahead of him at the next level.

12. Labaron Philon, 6-3, Alabama sophomore guard

Philon is a shifty, score-first point guard who blossomed into one of the best guards in college basketball as a sophomore. He doubled his scoring output with buttery floaters, a deceptive handle, and a feel for running an offense, while also beginning to shore up the shooting questions that once clouded his projection. But Philon is also a below-the-rim athlete and is listed under 180 pounds, so his slight frame remains the one thing standing between him and stardom.

13. Nate Ament, 6-10, Tennessee freshman forward

Players who can handle, shoot off the dribble, and stand at 6-foot-10 don’t grow on trees. This physical foundation kept Ament in lottery consideration even after a dreadful start to his freshman season when he struggled to score efficiently and make an impact defensively. But over the second half of the year for Tennessee, he flipped a switch and shots began to fall. He averaged 23.8 points over a six-game stretch in January and February that reminded everyone why he was a top recruit in the country. Then he dealt with an ankle injury that ruined his momentum entering March and he severely struggled during the tournament.

14. Christian Anderson, 6-1, Texas Tech sophomore guard

Anderson showed up at Texas Tech as the 101st-ranked recruit and has played his way into the first-round conversation behind dynamic pick-and-roll creation and knockdown perimeter shooting. He does a good job of creating easier shots for his teammates, but at his small stature he hasn’t shown a consistent ability to get to the rim with any regularity. And any small guard will always be a target on defense, so there’s a lot of pressure on his shot translating to the next level.

15. Karim López, 6-8, New Zealand Breakers forward

López is the best basketball prospect Mexico has ever produced. He left Hermosillo at 14 to play professionally in Barcelona, then at 17 moved to Auckland, New Zealand, where he shined for two years in the NBL Next Stars program. He checks a lot of boxes with his excellent physical tools, a hard-nosed approach, a well-rounded ability to defend multiple positions and handle the ball, and a blossoming shot. But he’s thus far more of a jack of all trades since his jumper runs hot and cold and he lacks the burst to blow by defenders off the bounce. Regardless, not every player is drafted with stardom in mind. López has all the requisite skills to enhance a star teammate as a key piece on a winning team.

16. Ebuka Okorie, 6-1, Stanford freshman guard

Okorie is the best driving guard in the class, a 6-foot-1 jitterbug who manipulates defenders with a tight handle, sudden changes of speed, and an advanced feel for the game. He’s not an above-the-rim athlete, though, and not long ago he was a kid from New Hampshire who ranked outside the top 100 and committed to Harvard. Then Stanford found him, he flipped his commitment, and he proceeded to lead the ACC in scoring with eight 30-point games and a habit for hitting clutch shots. NBA teams will have to decide whether what carved up the ACC will survive against bigger, longer defenders.

17. Yaxel Lendeborg, 6-9, Michigan senior forward

Lendeborg has a compelling story. Poor grades kept him off his high school varsity team. He went to a JUCO. Then UAB. Then he entered the draft, went through the combine, pulled his name back, and came back for one more year at Michigan and won a national championship. He just kept getting better every single time the competition got harder. He fills the stat sheet, he can play multiple positions, and he has a 7-foot-3 wingspan at 241 pounds with a genuine handle. But he’ll be 24 as a rookie. The arc is a great story. Whether it ends with NBA stardom is still up for debate.

Stirtz feels the game at a different frequency than everyone else on the floor, and yet still makes scouts squint because he doesn’t look the part athletically. The question isn’t whether he can play though. After transferring from Drake to Iowa, he kept cooking with bullseye passes, pump-fakes, and shooting touch off the dribble from NBA range. If he adjusts to the physicality and speed of the NBA, he could thrive as both a floor general and off-ball connector.

19. Hannes Steinbach, 6-10, Washington freshman big

Steinbach played professionally in Germany before enrolling at Washington, and he’ll enter the NBA with some readymade skills as an interior scorer and rebounder. He has massive hands that he uses to grab every possible rebound and finish effectively around the basket. He also showed legitimate touch on 3-pointers in flashes, which would turn him into a very different player if it becomes real. But he’s not quite a true 7-footer, and there are specific matchups where he gets targeted in space. It’s encouraging though that he bulked up from 220 to 248 pounds from the start of his freshman year at Washington until now. He was already strong, and now he’s making the case that he can be a true center for any team.

20. Sergio De Larrea, 6-6, Valencia wing

De Larrea is a tall playmaking wing with major feel and a knockdown jumper who thrives within team concepts. He suffered a dislocated shoulder that ended his 2024-25 season and removed him from draft boards, but it ended up a blessing in disguise since he returned with a bigger role and stronger production for a great team in the EuroLeague. With size, smarts, and defensive versatility, he could carve out a role in the NBA if his international skill can translate.

21. Dailyn Swain, 6-7, Texas junior wing

Swain played two competent seasons at Xavier, transferred to Texas, and somehow became the most efficient isolation scorer in the entire country. He’s relentless getting to the rim, creative as a finisher, and active enough defensively to project as a switchable wing. But the reason he lives at the rim is because his jump shot is genuinely terrible. He has stiff mechanics, bad percentages, and a reluctance to even attempt it that goes all the way back to high school. Until the shooting becomes a credible threat, defenses are going to pack the paint and dare him to beat them from the outside.

22. Allen Graves, 6-8, Santa Clara freshman forward

Graves was a point guard before a late growth spurt, and the floor skills carried over when he sprouted to 6-foot-8. He came off the bench at Santa Clara as a redshirt freshman and quietly became one of the most efficient producers in college basketball. But he came off the bench, lacks great athleticism, and struggled against the limited top competition that he faced. But the analytics love him, and he passes the eye test with his elite feel for the game.

23. Cameron Carr, 6-5, Baylor redshirt sophomore wing

You could have watched every Tennessee game for two years and genuinely not known that Carr existed. Then he transferred to Baylor, and led the team in scoring, shot nearly 40% from 3 on high volume, and looked like a 3-and-D role player who also has blossoming skills off the dribble. With NBA genes in his blood, as the son of former player Chris Carr, Cameron has the skills to make it in the NBA. But at 184 pounds with not a ton of games under his belt, he’s going to get introduced to the NBA’s physicality in a way college basketball never did.

24. Meleek Thomas, 6-5, Arkansas freshman guard

Thomas has the confidence to “run for president,” according to Arkansas head coach John Calipari. You could see that on the court the way he never hesitated to fire, stepped right into the lead role when Darius Acuff was sidelined at Missouri to close the regular season, and willed Arkansas to the SEC championship game with 29 against Ole Miss. He’s a legit NBA shooter with deep range, a quick release, and creation juice off the bounce. But he doesn’t get to the rim, his shot selection drifts into hero-ball, and there are questions about how he’ll deal with NBA physicality at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds.

25. Chris Cenac, 6-10, Houston freshman big

Cenac checks every box on paper as a superb athlete who moves like a wing, has the length to alter shots, and shoots from the perimeter. Houston handed him a starting role with national title aspirations and trusted him with heavy minutes. But the Cougars fell short again, in part because Cenac struggled to stay out of foul trouble, couldn’t score efficiently, and was overeager to play on the perimeter despite having the body of a bruiser. He arrived in college with lottery expectations, and he still could become that player in the future. But the NBA team drafting him is taking a project.

26. Henri Veesaar, 6-11, North Carolina junior big

Veesaar is an agile big with real shooting touch, connective playmaking, and baseline big skills with the ability to set screens and catch lobs. He also offers rim protection and is a locked-in help defender. In all three of his collegiate seasons, he made a massive leap in production each year. But he’s 227 pounds so his lanky frame can get pushed around, plus he still hasn’t fully defined his cornerstone skill.

Saunders is a hard-nosed, two-way wing who plays with manic energy, hustling around the floor hunting for steals on defense and jumpers on offense. The team that gets him knows exactly what they’re gonna get out of him. He’s also skilled, though, with a quick-trigger jumper, soft touch on floaters, and a feel for moving the ball. With less than ideal size and athleticism, he more likely projects as a solid role player. But he’s not a guarantee to succeed at age 25 after tearing his ACL in February, ending his four-year career at BYU.

28. Isaiah Evans, Duke sophomore wing

Evans is the kind of shooter that defenses guard and think they’ve got him contained, then he uses a screen and catches it off a full sprint, moving away from the rim, and he somehow manages to rise into a perfect 3-pointer. He’s a legitimate sharpshooter with the off-ball chops to thrive without even running any offense for himself, and he also has a developing handle that could unlock more creation chances. But he’s still a perimeter-based player who needs to add more layers to his game to become a complete offensive talent.

29. Jack Kayil, 6-4, Alba Berlin guard

Kayil is a combo guard with a strong frame, a feel for the game that exceeds his youth, and the grit to become a high-level defender. He just became one of the youngest players to ever win the German League’s Under-22 Player of the Year, joining Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder on a list that bodes well for his NBA prospects. He committed to Gonzaga back in October, but has decided to stay in the draft — a decision that surprised some scouts since he has yet to prove he can shoot consistently or run an offense full-time. But there’s no denying his upside and he could end up one of the late risers in this class.

30. Tarris Reed, UConn senior big

Reed is a throwback center who played at his best on the biggest stage on UConn’s way to the national title game. He does all the dirty work inside the paint as a finisher and rebounder and shot-blocker. But beyond his ability to screen and pass, he isn’t all too comfortable on the perimeter as a shooter or defender. So there are questions about his upside, especially since he’ll be 23 as a rookie.

31. Alex Karaban, 6-7, UConn senior forward

32. Bruce Thornton, 6-0, Ohio State senior guard

33. Tyler Bilodeau, 6-7, UCLA senior forward

34. Ryan Conwell, Louisville senior guard

35. Koa Peat, Arizona freshman forward

36. Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s senior forward

37. Jayden Quaintance, Kentucky sophomore big

38. Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State senior forward

39. Ugonna Onyenso, Virginia senior big

40. Maliq Brown, Duke senior forward

41. Emanuel Sharp, Houston senior guard

42. Felix Okpara, Tennessee senior big

43. Braden Smith, Purdue senior guard

44. Dillon Mitchell, St. John’s senior forward

45. Jaden Bradley, Arizona senior guard

46. Noam Yaacov, Filou Oostende international guard

47. Baba Miller, Cincinnati senior forward

48. Tyler Nickel, Vanderbilt senior forward

49. Izaiyah Nelson, South Florida senior big

50. Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s senior forward

51. Nick Martinelli, Northwestern senior wing

52. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee senior guard

53. Trevon Brazile, Arkansas senior big

54. Tobe Awaka, Arizona senior forward

55. Otega Oweh, Kentucky senior wing

56. Michael Ajayi, Butler senior forward

57. Jaron Pierre, SMU senior wing

58. Elijah Mahi, Santa Clara senior wing

59. Carson Cooper, Michigan State senior big

60. Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana senior guard

61. Nate Bittle, Oregon senior big

62. Darrion Williams, NC State senior forward

63. Aaron Nkrumah, Tennessee State senior wing

64. Milos Uzan, Houston senior guard

65. Oscar Cluff, Purdue senior big

66. Quadir Copeland, NC State senior guard

67. Jaylin Sellers, Providence senior guard

68. Malique Lewis, South East Melbourne Phoenix international wing

69. Peter Suder, Miami (OH) senior wing

70. Jaxon Kohler, Michigan State senior forward

71. Chris Bell, California senior wing

72. Duke Miles, Vanderbilt senior guard

73. Tobias Jensen, Ratiopharm Ulm International wing

74. Tobi Lawal, Virginia Tech senior forward

75. Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State senior guard

76. Vsevolod Ishchenko, Lokomotiv Kuban international wing

77. William Kyle, Syracuse senior big

78. Mark Mitchell, Missouri senior forward

79. Rafael Castro, George Washington senior forward

80. John Camden, California senior forward

81. Graham Ike, Gonzaga senior big

82. Donovan Atwell, Texas Tech senior wing

83. Jaden Henley, Grand Canyon senior wing

84. Keyshawn Hall, Auburn senior forward

85. Seth Trimble, North Carolina senior guard

86. Reynan dos Santos, Mexico City Capitanes international wing

87. Lajae JonesFlorida State senior wing

88. Josh Dix, Creighton senior wing

89. Cade Tyson, Minnesota senior wing

90. Nimari Burnett, Michigan senior wing

91. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Purdue senior big

92. Nick Boyd, Wisconsin senior guard

93. Zach Cleveland, Liberty senior forward

94. Max Mackinnon, LSU senior wing

95. Corey Stephenson, FIU senior wing

96. Kylan Boswell, Illinois junior guard

97. Malik Reneau, Miami (FL) senior forward

98. Tucker DeVries, Indiana senior wing

99. Mohammad AminiNancy Basket international wing

100. Bryson Tucker, Washington sophomore wing

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