Draft 2026 NBA Draft Prospects Thread

[ace3g]

• May 10: 2026 NBA Draft Lottery | 3 ET (ABC)

 

[Ariel]

• May 10: 2026 NBA Draft Lottery | 3 ET (ABC)

 

[OK Computer]

Quaintance has major potential, however, my alarm bells going off when watching this recent clip:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2049953736181817660

Deliberately avoids landing on his hurt leg. He’s going to mess up his other leg doing this over time. Huge red flag. It’s good and bad: good because if other teams notice it too, he’ll drop. Bad because if this isn’t a temporary thing he’s doing, then he won’t last long in the NBA.

 

[onechance87]

Allen Graves is a really interesting prospect. He has some similarities to Carter Bryant in that both came off the bench for winning teams with a bunch of older teammates, and both had impressive impact stats that were outsized compared to their minutes and roles. Another interesting thing about Graves is that his #1 red flag is a very high foul rate, but if you look at the evolution of his year, lots of those occurred early in the season when they were trying to use him as a small ball center... but by the end, where he was more of a wing player, the fouling went down by quite a bit-- and that was against better competition. In the first 10 games of his season, he averaged 3.4 fouls per game, but in his last 10 games, he averaged 2.1 fouls per game. If he's an analytics darling and his only red flag is as much an outlier as his analytics, that's a definite case for a closer look. He led the entire WCC in PER, WS/40, BPM, OBPM, Offensive Rating, and Steal %. He was 3rd in offensive rebounding %, 4th in block %, 5th in defensive rebound %, and had the 2nd lowest TO %. He shot 41% from three. Santa Clara finished the season 3-3 in their last 6 games, which included losses to St Mary's, Gonzaga, and Kentucky (an OT loss in the tournament), but in all 6 games Graves posted net positive results. His analytics are off the charts, and I'm excited to watch much more film on him.

Graves reminds me of tristan da silva.

 

[LeBowen]

Quaintance has major potential, however, my alarm bells going off when watching this recent clip:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2049953736181817660

Deliberately avoids landing on his hurt leg. He’s going to mess up his other leg doing this over time. Huge red flag. It’s good and bad: good because if other teams notice it too, he’ll drop. Bad because if this isn’t a temporary thing he’s doing, then he won’t last long in the NBA.

I think we're in a position to take a gamble with a high upside player like the Nuggets did with MPJ.

 

[scott]

personally, I'm all for the Spurs trading away the Hawks 2027 pick if it means that the Spurs can move up enough to grab a player that they have their eyes on.

If the new lotto odds go into effect next year, I wouldn’t trade away that Hawks pick. It’s an injury away from sneaking into the lotto with enhanced odds.

 

[CGD]

View attachment 1921

Remind me, why not Indiana? Sorry if I’m missing something obvious.

 

[DTW]

3. Quaintance
Let's just stick him here for now given the uncertainty of his medicals. I understand how dumb it is to draft a potential backup center with a first round pick, but the points that I would use to push back are 1) primary rim protector and primary initiator are probably the two positions that most affect a game and

Wembanyama said in response to his unanimous DPOY win that the hardest part was meeting the 65 game threshold.

Between that and the contention window just opening, his desire to regularly play for France (however realistic that is), Kornet turning 31 soon and clearly not being built to play significant minutes as is and the possibility that they'd at least like the option to play Wembanyama more at PF in certain matchups and next season third C could have as much or more of a role than Bryant's had this season.

 

[Ariel]

Remind me, why not Indiana? Sorry if I’m missing something obvious.

I just don't want them back next season with the same team that made the finals (Haliburton, Nembhard, Nesmith, Siakam), plus Zubac and Dybantsa/Boozer/Peterson or whatever vet/s that asset could get them. Also, if they don't get a top 4 pick then it goes to the Clippers which would help them next year as they convey their pick to OKC yet again.

 

[QuarryHeights]

Wembanyama said in response to his unanimous DPOY win that the hardest part was meeting the 65 game threshold.

Between that and the contention window just opening, his desire to regularly play for France (however realistic that is), Kornet turning 31 soon and clearly not being built to play significant minutes as is and the possibility that they'd at least like the option to play Wembanyama more at PF in certain matchups and next season third C could have as much or more of a role than Bryant's had this season.

Yeah, I don't see any center in this draft other then maybe Reed or Bidunga, who could be the third string backup? Probably best thing would be to target a free agent and would even be open to trading our first this year or next years to get it done.

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2050690329565610235

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2050984254302281938

 

[Uriel]

The Ringer 2026 NBA Draft Guide

Explore this year's best NBA prospects, broken down in depth and ranked.

www.theringer.com

Updated.

This is a pretty incredible mock. Ament, Lopez, Steinbach, Peat all available at 20.

 

[CGD]

This is a pretty incredible mock. Ament, Lopez, Steinbach, Peat all available at 20.

Ament keeps sliding. Wonder if people see Risacher in him and are getting nervous.

 

[Ariel]

This is a pretty incredible mock. Ament, Lopez, Steinbach, Peat all available at 20.

Those are pretty much all high risk / questionable fit guys though.

 

[Uncle Oscar]

It's The Ringer's draft board, rather than a mock.

 

[The Truth #6]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2050690329565610235

So the players in the grey shorts are paid to play bad defense and get dunked on?

 

[100%Duncan]

Ament keeps sliding. Wonder if people see Risacher in him and are getting nervous.

Risacher at low 1st round isnt a bad pick tho IMO

 

[SpursOrigins]

Two words, Hannes Steinbach. He seems to check the boxes needed especially the rebounding. Of course, I defer to those who have made a deep dive into these prospects, kudos to all of you.

 

[rascal]

Two words, Hannes Steinbach. He seems to check the boxes needed especially the rebounding. Of course, I defer to those who have made a deep dive into these prospects, kudos to all of you.

From this list Ament, Steinbach, Lopez, Peat I prefer Steinbach. He has the strongest offensive game from this group. Doubt he'll last to 20.

 

[SpursOrigins]

Agree which is why I'd throw in the 2027 pick to move up high enough to draft him. There's a plethora of exciting prospects in this range but he stands out for some reason.