NBA Draft 2026: Previewing Next Year’s Special Draft Class

It’s never too early to start thinking about future drafts, especially with a class as interesting as 2026. Events like the McDonald’s All-American Game and Chipotle Nationals put the best high schoolers in the spotlight more than ever. I have updated my initial top 30 for the 2026 NBA Draft:

breaking in the 2026 tab on my board sheet with a ’26 draft top 30 update. very little confidence in anything on this board outside of the top 5 and obviously tons will change over the coming months.

dropping this as a benchmark. colors denote tiers as always pic.twitter.com/DpDtHgOppJ

— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) April 2, 2025

Let’s discuss the broad outlines of the 2026 class and what to expect heading into the summer and the next college basketball season.

A special top three

The projected top three prospects for the 2026 NBA Draft, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa, form one of the best groups we’ve ever seen at this stage. Most drafts only feature one special, franchise-altering prospect like Cooper Flagg in 2025 or Zion Williamson in 2019.

Next year’s draft class, barring unexpected developments, will have three such players. I’d still take Cooper Flagg as the best prospect on the planet because we have proof of his historic college dominance, but any of the aforementioned three have reasonable arguments as the top NBA prospect across the globe.

Peterson sits as our current top prospect, as he’s been the clear best player in the country since last summer. He’s the best high school guard prospect I’ve ever seen, stacked with elite traits and few, if any, notable weaknesses. Peterson’s incredible advantage creation, touch, passing diversity, athletic tools and defensive ability offer true two-way superstar upside.

High school recruiting consensus views Dybantsa as the class’s crown jewel and it’s easy to understand why. From a pure scoring and creation standpoint, Dybantsa is one of the best wing prospects ever. His feel for the game and defensive consistency lag behind the other top prospects, but he’s a special enough athlete and shooter to contend for NBA scoring titles one day.

We shouldn’t overlook Cameron Boozer, who is trailing behind Peterson and Dybantsa for many scouts. His game isn’t as flashy as the others, but he’s been the most impactful and productive player of the trio throughout his high school career, despite being the youngest of the group. Boozer’s combination of size, ball skills, scoring efficiency and feel for the game are all NBA star traits.

Beyond those three players, there’s a notable dropoff in the class’s quality. Still, we remember classes for their high-end stars and 2026 should produce at least three elite NBA players.

Uncertainty beyond the very top

After the top three, I see two other potential blue chip prospects in 2026 — Nate Ament and Jayden Quaintance. Ament, who still hasn’t made a college decision, brings the shotmaking, ball handling and defensive aptitude NBA teams love on the wing. Quaintance excelled on defense and flashed some real passing and slashing skill at Arizona State this season. He’ll turn 18 next fall and is too young to declare for the 2025 NBA draft.

Most of the other top high school recruits don’t project cleanly as one-and-done NBA prospects. Louisville point guard Mikel Brown Jr. has the shooting and passing talent requisite of an NBA guard and Kingston Flemings trades shooting for nuclear athleticism. The class features quite a few offensively raw, defensively oriented wings and bigs like Chris Cenac, Caleb Wilson and Koa Peat.

There’s always significant variance for projecting high school prospects and that’s especially true for this class. A weak international group, headlined by Dash Daniels (Dyson’s brother) and Karim Lopez, add to the class’s uncertainty. 

The college returner group will be strong

Unlike the 2025 NBA draft class, 2026 should feature quite a few intriguing returner prospects, especially given the relative weakness of the mid to late lottery. Collin Murray-Boyles is the only lottery-quality returning prospect in this year’s class. Rookie Scale’s consensus board only has four returning players as top-25 prospects.

Missouri guard Anthony Robinson and Iowa transfer Bennett Stirtz top my initial list of returning players for 2026 (not counting Quaintance, given his ineligibility for 2025). Stirtz will have the chance to further boost his stock playing in the Big 10 and Robinson looks poised for a huge breakout season after an already promising two-way sophomore campaign. 

The class has quite a few more big breakout candidates with lottery upside. Florida’s Thomas Haugh has starred in the tournament and some scoring growth would complement his already great defensive and passing chops. Adrian Wooley has real creation upside and should thrive at Louisville.

Some highly touted freshmen from the 2024 high school class, like Isaiah Evans, Patrick Ngongba, Paul McNeil or Jalil Bethea, could break out next season. If freshmen like Labaron Philon, Carter Bryant or Will Riley return to school, the non-freshman class could end up as one of the strongest in recent memory.