Cooper Flagg gave the 2025 NBA Draft the celebrity it wanted on the high of the category when he determined to reclassify in Aug. 2023 to basically skip his senior yr of highschool at Florida prep powerhouse Montverde Academy. Flagg was initially slated graduate highschool in 2025, which might have had him ticketed for the 2026 NBA Draft. Whereas Flagg’s reclassification balanced out the elite younger expertise quickly to enter the NBA, it additionally took away from what was — and nonetheless may be — an all-time sturdy incoming draft class.
The expertise within the 2025 NBA Draft has been getting hyped for greater than a yr — partially due to the depth of the present freshman class, partially due to the presence of an elite No. 1 prospect like Flagg, partially as a result of it’s comparatively a lot stronger than the uninspiring 2024 draft class. That hype hasn’t subsided a lot through the faculty and worldwide season, nevertheless it has been sobering in some methods as no apparent No. 3 prospect has emerged and a number of other projected high picks have underwhelmed.
Perhaps it’s solely pure to all the time assume the incoming expertise a yr out appears much more intriguing, however there’s virtually no strategy to deny it because it pertains to the 2026 draft. NBA Draft lessons are usually judged by their top-end expertise, and the 2026 class is the uncommon group with three potential No. 1 total picks.
A.J. Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, and Darryn Peterson are all particular prospects who might help outline the following era of NBA expertise alongside Flagg. Right here’s how we’d rank the three gamers 16 months out from the 2026 NBA Draft.
1. Darryn Peterson, G, Prolific Prep (Kansas commit)
Peterson has ascended to turn out to be a official candidate for the No. 1 total choose after a ridiculous run out-playing his high friends during the last 12 months. There is no such thing as a prospect on the planet higher suited to be the first initiator of a great offense on the subsequent degree, and Peterson is the uncommon prospect who additionally tasks to be a plus defensively whereas carrying such a giant offensive function.
Peterson is a 6’5 guard with a 6’10 wingspan with a powerful and wiry body. He’s spent his senior yr destroying every little thing in his path, with a ridiculous 33-point efficiency towards the Boozer twins in Nov., 32-point, 10-rebound, and eight help recreation towards Dybantsa in Dec., and a 31-point efficiency towards Nate Ament at Hoophall Traditional in Jan. In every of those settings, Peterson has confirmed how his unreal two-way versatility scales up towards elite competitors.
Peterson is a gifted robust shot-maker, however his recreation is a lot deeper than that. He’s uniquely positioned to hit contested photographs within the arc with unbelievable physique management and gentle contact even whereas off-balance. He could make floaters and layups with both hand, and he does an incredible job hanging within the air and squaring himself to the basket when he assaults the rim.
Peterson creates probabilities for himself together with his particular driving capacity. He has the ball on a string as a handler, and might mud defenders together with his quickness or plow by way of them with power. He all the time appears to have a counter to what the protection throws at him, and he doesn’t pressure his personal offense regardless of the flexibility to hit photographs everywhere in the flooring.
Peterson’s motor and physicality is simply as hanging as his contact. Whereas he’s not a Thompson twin-level athlete, he reveals incredible burst each as a ball handler attacking the paint and as a defender closing in on the ball. His defensive consciousness is spectacular, and it simply seems like he will get the ball when he needs it.
Gamers as gifted as Peterson offensively usually don’t carry this a lot worth on protection. He’s going to an superior off-ball defensive playmaker, and he’ll be capable to lock up on the ball when he’s known as upon.
Peterson is sort of a souped-up Devin Booker with extra capacity to be a main handler and higher athletic items. He may be one of the best recruit Invoice Self has ever landed at Kansas, forward of Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson (Joel Embiid turned one of the best professional Self ever coached, and Peterson should win an NBA MVP to match that). There’s an actual probability he goes No. 1 in June 2026.
2. Cameron Boozer, F/C, Columbus Prep (Duke commit)
I already wrote a full deep dive on Boozer when he dedicated to Duke. In brief, his successful pedigree is unmatched amongst any latest prospect to enter the NBA, and his mixture of energy, intelligence, and ability provides him actual celebrity upside regardless of some pace and leaping limitations.
At 6’10 with a powerful body, Boozer brings large offensive versatility. On one possession, he’ll hammer the opposing protection as an inside scorer on post-ups, putbacks, and rolls to the rim. On the following, he’ll provoke the offense on the perimeter like a wing. He’s a great driver and handler for somebody so massive, and he can dislodge defenders on his strategy to the basket together with his enormous body.
Boozer’s total really feel for the sport is one in every of his greatest attributes, and it reveals up everywhere in the tape in his passing capacity. He has nice court docket imaginative and prescient to ship dimes on time and heading in the right direction everywhere in the flooring. It seems like he has a uncommon capacity to map the ground and know the place everyone seems to be, so he can all the time assume one step forward of the protection. His scoring gravity and passing capacity provides him the potential to be the hub of an offense within the halfcourt. With Boozer on the controls, it feels just like the offense is all the time getting a great shot.
Boozer has gained at each degree towards high competitors whereas placing up unmatched manufacturing ever since coming into highschool. He hasn’t had a meteoric breakout like Peterson and he doesn’t have elite bodily traits like Dybantsa, however he’s been steadily acting at an elite degree all through his 4 years of prep ball. Whereas he’s the slowest participant and worst shooter of the three on this story, he’s additionally the strongest and the neatest. He’s above-average in nearly each aspect of the sport, together with his three-point shot. How may he not be with how a lot he’s gained at the highschool degree?
Be skeptical of Boozer’s NBA translation at your individual danger. His degree of successful and manufacturing is just too spectacular to guess towards.
3. A.J. Dybantsa, F, Utah Prep (BYU commit)
When you may create an NBA wing with celebrity traits in a scientific lab, it could look lots like Dybantsa. A 6’9 jumbo wing, Dybantsa has an amazing mixture of size and athleticism and that offers him one of the best bodily items of any prospect not presently within the NBA.
Dybantsa goes to have the ability to rating contained in the arc together with his physicality alone. His power, size, and open flooring pace is a deadly mixture that may nonetheless be elite on the highest ranges. He’s going to be a pressure attacking closeouts and getting out in transition, giving him a pathway to simple buckets that don’t generate spotlight reel clicks like his robust shot-making does.
After all, Dybantsa doesn’t simply win together with his instruments. His extremely superior as a ball handler and long-range shooter for his age and his dimension, giving him takeover scoring capacity on any given night time. Proper now, he’s one of the best three-point shooter among the many high prospects on the planet: he has deep vary and a fast launch on his jumper, and he’s equally able to hitting triples off the dribble or off-the-catch. It seems like there’s an opportunity Dybantsa grows into one of many higher shooters on the planet, and if that occurs, there’s no cap on his long-term upside.
Dybantsa has main upside on the defensive finish too together with his instruments, however wants to remain locked in mentally on that finish. There’s little doubt Dybantsa is probably the most naturally gifted of the three, however for now he may need the least quantity of polish. It seems like he over-dribbles at occasions, and he doesn’t have the craft drawing fouls that the opposite two do. He’s not the playmaker Boozer is, and he doesn’t have the extremely fine-tuned ability that Peterson reveals. Nonetheless, Dybantsa’s mixture of dimension, capturing, dealing with, and athleticism is the stuff No. 1 total picks are manufactured from.
He may be third on my record, however he nonetheless seems like the favourite to go first total in 2026.