Rival teams expect the Clippers to use the No. 5 overall pick in the draft to select either Illinois guard Keaton Wagler or Louisville guard Mikel Brown, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), who explains that those two players are viewed as better fits alongside point guard Darius Garland than Arkansas’ Darius Acuff or Houston’s Kingston Flemings would be.
Fischer hears from sources that Wagler and Flemings took part in a head-to-head workout at the Clippers’ facility last week and says the chatter since then has suggested that Wagler was the more impressive prospect of the two in that session.
As for Brown, he has mostly been hosting teams in Orlando to work out in a 1-on-0 setting, but he has recently begun paying visits to teams in his draft range as well. According to Fischer, the Nets (No. 6) hosted Brown last Thursday and he’s currently in Los Angeles to meet with the Clippers.
If Wagler and Brown end up coming off the board fifth and sixth, it would line up the Kings to use the No. 7 pick on Acuff, a player they’ve been linked to throughout the pre-draft process. Flemings would also be an option in that scenario, and Fischer and James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter link) both hear that the Houston guard was in Sacramento last week to work out for the Kings, despite a previous report that stated he hadn’t visited the club.
Here are a few more notes and rumors related to the 2026 NBA draft:
- Sources tell Fischer that one reason Darryn Peterson isn’t visiting the Jazz is because his camp is wary of positional overlap with guard Keyonte George, who is viewed as a long-term cornerstone in Utah. In other news out of Utah, Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms that the Jazz recently hosted Acuff for a workout and were impressed, but sources tell Jones that the club is unlikely to seriously consider anyone besides Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, or Cameron Boozer with the No. 2 overall pick.
- Nate Ament‘s trainer, Chauncey Beckett, spoke at length to Mark Medina of R.org about the Tennessee forward’s pre-draft process, indicating that Ament has worked out – or is scheduled to work out – for the Clippers, Nets, Mavericks, Thunder, and Bulls.
- Fischer shares a couple updates on potential second-round picks, writing that several scouts have linked BYU guard Richie Saunders to the Nets at No. 33 and adding that Syracuse forward William Kyle has shut down his pre-draft workouts. Kyle visited 11 teams and got enough positive feedback during those workouts that he declined five additional invitations, according to Fischer, who identifies the Knicks, Spurs, Thunder, Celtics, and Lakers as teams with interest.
- Gonzaga guard Tyon Grant-Foster, who had a defibrillator implanted due to a heart condition called arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, has been granted medical clearance by the NBA’s fitness-to-play panel, reports Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link).
