Wizards Eye A.J. Dybantsa at No. 1 as June 23 Draft Nears

Q: The NBA's new anti-tanking rules are set for 2027. Which teams' rebuilding plans are now in serious jeopardy?

The teams most clearly exposed are the **Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies**, with the **Washington Wizards** and other clubs built around multi-year tanking also facing a much tougher path. Utah is the cleanest example because the new 2027 rules bar a team from landing in the top five in three straight drafts. With Utah already coming off a No. 5 pick in 2025 and projected at No. 2 in 2026, its 2027 pick can no longer rise into the top five. That directly damages the Jazz’s rebuild-by-lottery route. It also hurts **Memphis**, which owns the favorable rights to Utah’s 2027 first-rounder. Under the old system, that asset carried real top-five upside. Under the new rules, that upside is gone, making a key piece of Memphis’s post-trade reset materially less valuable. The **Wizards** are another obvious team affected, even if they just benefited from the old system by landing No. 1 in 2026. Their rebuild has leaned on bottoming out for elite talent, and the 3-2-1 lottery is designed to make that strategy less rewarding by flattening odds, expanding lottery uncertainty and limiting repeat access to the very top of the board. More broadly, any team hoping to replicate a long “Process”-style rebuild is now in jeopardy. That includes clubs such as **Brooklyn, Charlotte, Portland and Sacramento** if their plans depend heavily on repeated premium lottery outcomes or on the top-end value of future unprotected picks. The new system makes both much less predictable.

Q: Beyond the consensus #1 pick, which prospect's controversial combine results will cause their draft stock to plummet?

Amari Allen appears to be the clearest answer. The strongest reporting tied to combine fallout points to Allen’s measurements. He had been listed at 6-foot-8 at Alabama, but measured just 6-foot-5.25 barefoot at the combine, a gap of nearly three inches. That kind of discrepancy matters because his positional size was one of the main selling points in his draft case. The concern was amplified by the view in draft circles that his standing reach result also raised questions, even though his vertical testing helped somewhat. By contrast, other prospects mentioned in the mock carry concerns, but not the same kind of combine-driven stock-drop signal. Darryn Peterson’s uncertainty is more about medical reviews after his cramping and injury issues than a measurement shock. Keaton Wagler and Kingston Flemings had less-than-ideal measurements, but the reporting does not suggest the same dramatic reevaluation. Koa Peat also drew criticism for poor shooting drills and an awkward positional profile, making him another candidate for a slide, but Allen’s measurement surprise is described more directly as damaging. So, beyond consensus No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa, the prospect most likely to see his stock fall sharply because of controversial combine results is Amari Allen.

3 articles · Updated · SB Nation · Jun 8

A.J. Dybantsa remains the projected No. 1 pick for Washington, though the latest mock says Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer are still in contention for the top spot.
June 23 is shaping up as a fluid draft night because workouts, trade chatter and NIL-driven college returns have thinned the class and fueled uncertainty at the top.
Darryn Peterson is projected No. 2 to Utah and Cameron Boozer No. 3 to Memphis, with the mock calling Boozer the class's top overall player despite Dybantsa leading the race for No. 1.
Further down the lottery, Sacramento is linked strongly to Darius Acuff at No. 7, Brooklyn is rumored to target Nate Ament at No. 6, and the Clippers could choose between Keaton Wagler and Mikel Brown Jr. at No. 5.
The full first round reflects a draft cycle driven as much by team workouts and league intel as by college production, with late movement still expected before selections begin.