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 primarily skip his senior 12 months 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 is perhaps — an all-time robust incoming draft class.
The expertise within the 2025 NBA Draft has been getting hyped for greater than a 12 months — 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 in the course of the school and worldwide season, but it surely 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 at all times suppose the incoming expertise a 12 months out seems to be much more intriguing, however there’s nearly no option to deny it because it pertains to the 2026 draft. NBA Draft courses are usually judged by their top-end expertise, and the 2026 class is the uncommon group with three potential No. 1 general picks.
A.J. Dybantsa, Cameron Boozer, and Darryn Peterson are all particular prospects who might help outline the following technology 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 grow to be a official candidate for the No. 1 general choose after a ridiculous run out-playing his high friends during the last 12 months. There isn’t any prospect on this planet higher suited to be the first initiator of offense on the subsequent stage, and Peterson is the uncommon prospect who additionally tasks to be a plus defensively whereas carrying such an enormous offensive position.
Peterson is a 6’5 guard with a 6’10 wingspan with a powerful and wiry body. He’s spent his senior 12 months 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 sport 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 sport is a lot deeper than that. He’s uniquely positioned to hit contested pictures inside the arc with unimaginable physique management and comfortable contact even whereas off-balance. He could make floaters and layups with both hand, and he does a terrific job hanging within the air and squaring himself to the basket when he assaults the rim.
Peterson creates probabilities for himself along with his particular driving means. He has the ball on a string as a handler, and may mud defenders along with his quickness or plow via them with energy. He at all times appears to have a counter to what the protection throws at him, and he doesn’t drive his personal offense regardless of the flexibility to hit pictures all around the flooring.
Peterson’s motor and physicality is simply as putting as his contact. Whereas he’s not a Thompson twin-level athlete, he reveals improbable 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 looks 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 have the ability to lock up on the ball when he’s known as upon.
Peterson is sort of a souped-up Devin Booker with extra means to be a main handler and higher athletic items. He is perhaps one of the best recruit Invoice Self has ever landed at Kansas, forward of Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson (Joel Embiid grew to become 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. Briefly, his profitable pedigree is unmatched amongst any current prospect to enter the NBA, and his mixture of energy, intelligence, and ability offers 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 driver and handler for somebody so huge, and he can dislodge defenders on his option to the basket along with his large body.
Boozer’s general really feel for the sport is certainly one of his finest attributes, and it reveals up all around the tape in his passing means. He has nice court docket imaginative and prescient to ship dimes on time and heading in the right direction all around the flooring. It looks like he has a uncommon means to map the ground and know the place everyone seems to be, so he can at all times suppose one step forward of the protection. His scoring gravity and passing means offers 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 at all times getting shot.
Boozer has gained at each stage 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 stage 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 side of the sport, together with his three-point shot. How might he not be with how a lot he’s gained at the highschool stage?
Be skeptical of Boozer’s NBA translation at your personal threat. His stage of profitable and manufacturing is just too spectacular to guess towards.
3. A.J. Dybantsa, F, Utah Prep (BYU commit)
In case you might create an NBA wing with celebrity traits in a scientific lab, it could look loads like Dybantsa. A 6’9 jumbo wing, Dybantsa has an awesome mixture of size and athleticism and that provides him one of the best bodily items of any prospect not at present within the NBA.
Dybantsa goes to have the ability to rating contained in the arc along with his physicality alone. His energy, size, and open flooring pace is a deadly mixture that can nonetheless be elite on the highest ranges. He’s going to be a drive 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.
In fact, Dybantsa doesn’t simply win along with his instruments. His extremely superior as a ball handler and long-range shooter for his age and his measurement, giving him takeover scoring means on any given night time. Proper now, he’s one of the best three-point shooter among the many high prospects on this 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 looks like there’s an opportunity Dybantsa grows into one of many higher shooters on this planet, and if that occurs, there’s no cap on his long-term upside.
Dybantsa has main upside on the defensive finish too along with his instruments, however wants to remain locked in mentally on that finish. There’s little doubt Dybantsa is probably the most naturally proficient of the three, however for now he may need the least quantity of polish. It looks like he over-dribbles at instances, 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 measurement, capturing, dealing with, and athleticism is the stuff No. 1 general picks are manufactured from.
He is perhaps third on my record, however he nonetheless looks like the favourite to go first general in 2026.
