ESPN Sizes Up 12 Projected 2026 NBA Lottery Picks Ahead of June 23 Draft

3 articles · Updated · ESPN · Jun 1

June 23-24 is the target date for the 2026 NBA draft, and ESPN’s latest breakdown maps the top 12 projected lottery prospects to current or former NBA player archetypes.
AJ Dybantsa remains the projected No. 1 pick to Washington after averaging 25.5 points at BYU, with scouts most often likening the 6-foot-8 wing to a bigger Jaylen Brown and, on the high end, Kawhi Leonard.
Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer round out the projected top three, with Peterson framed as a Damian Lillard- or Devin Booker-type scorer and Boozer as a Kevin Love- or Al Horford-style frontcourt hub ready to help quickly.
Further down the lottery, evaluators tied Keaton Wagler to Tyrese Haliburton, Darius Acuff Jr. to Jalen Brunson, Kingston Flemings to De’Aaron Fox and Mikel Brown Jr. to LaMelo Ball or D’Angelo Russell.
The exercise underscores how teams are still weighing upside against role certainty in a class ESPN calls talented, with draft boards still fluid less than four weeks before all 60 picks are announced in Brooklyn.

Sources

With analytics doubting a top prospect, could this draft's biggest star be found outside the consensus top five?

As NIL money keeps talent in college, is the NBA draft losing its luster for the next generation of stars?

Top prospect AJ Dybantsa needs shooting improvement. How often do draft picks with this specific flaw actually become superstars?