The 2026 NBA draft class has been lauded as a particularly strong one at the top of the lottery. AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Cameron Boozer (Duke), and Darryn Peterson (Kansas) make up a formidable trio, and Caleb Wilson (UNC) is by no means a consolation prize.
Even though they’re all great prospects in their own right, they’re not quite at the top of the list of the best draftees to come into the league over the last decade, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic.
In Vecenie’s rankings of top prospects since 2015, Dybantsa, Boozer, and Peterson come in at sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, while Wilson is 18th, one spot below the Spurs’ Dylan Harper. Even though the UNC forward falls out of the top 15, Vecenie writes that he considers Wilson’s value to be equivalent to the second overall pick in a normal draft lottery.
At the top of his rankings, based on how they were evaluated before they got to the league, Vecenie has a top five of Victor Wembaynama, Cooper Flagg, Zion Williamson, Cade Cunningham, and Karl-Anthony Towns, in that order.
We have more draft news and notes:
- When it comes to Wilson’s projections at the next level, his trainer, Robert Swain, believes that the sky is the limit, given his versatile skill set and high character. “He’s going to explode,” Swain said in an interview with Mark Medina of R.org. “He’s going to be a great teammate. He’s going to be able to provide whatever the coach wants him to do. He’ll be able to do it at a high level.” Swain says Wilson has been working on his face-up game since the college season ended. While the athletic forward showed some self-creation skills in the mid-range in college, smoothing out the jump shot will go a long way in helping him reach his ceiling. As far as player comparisons, Swain’s are ambitious. “With Magic Johnson, I can see Caleb getting a rebound and taking it coast-to-coast, whether he’s scoring for himself, creating for a teammate to score or creating for a teammate to create for another teammate,” he said. “So I see him making those quick decisions with the basketball in his hands. With Paul George, you can see him spacing up and taking the elbow jumper and getting into his one-two dribble pull-up. As far as (Kevin) Garnett, you can see Caleb scoring 18 feet in, grabbing defensive and offensive rebounds and blocking shots.”
- Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) is hoping to become the NBA’s next versatile, do-it-all forward, and there are four players he is using to help shape how he works on his game, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “One is [Paolo Banchero], I always tried to mimic his game,” Lendeborg said, following a workout with the Warriors. “(Timberwolves big man) Naz Reid as well. In a way, I try to mimic some of [LeBron James’] drives and how physical he is and how he uses his body, when to use it, stuff like that. And somebody I still watch to this day is, just highlights, is Magic Johnson. I learned a lot of different things. Little pieces from each player.“
- Rumors have circulated about teams looking to trade up or down in the draft, and while the high pedigree of the top players makes it unlikely that we will see major movement at the top, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. That’s why ESPN’s NBA insiders put together six potential major draft-day trades that could shake up the landscape. The first would be an unprecedented move: the Wizards trading pick No. 1, Bub Carrington, and Cam Whitmore to the Jazz for No. 2, Ace Bailey, and a 2029 pick. The top two picks have never been swapped before, according to ESPN. Could this be the year it happens?
