For years, NBA front offices have seen the 2026 draft class as being one of the most promising in recent memory.

Most scouts agree that three – and according to some, four – players had the talent and production to be the No. 1 overall pick in a typical draft, leaving the top of the lottery with plenty of options.

Ultimately, the top of the draft went exactly as predicted, with AJ Dybantsa going first, followed by Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson.

The Washington Wizards selected AJ Dybantsa with the top overall pick, adding him to a roster full of young lottery picks and two newly acquired veterans in Trae Young and Anthony Davis.

At 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, Dybantsa has good positional size and showed a polished scoring touch by leading NCAA Division I at 25.5 points per game in his only season at BYU.

The Utah Jazz selected Peterson at No. 2, despite him not granting them a private workout, an echo of the situation they faced last year when selecting Ace Bailey with the fifth pick.

Utah’s front office met before the draft with Peterson, according to ESPN, selling the idea of this season being the start of a franchise turnaround. With a dynamic combo guard like Peterson in place next to the frontcourt of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Lauri Markkanen, the Jazz have their sights set on getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021-22.

Many scouts regarded Peterson as the most talented player in the draft. Highly skilled at 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, Peterson can play either guard spot, and he was ranked as the top player in last year's college recruiting class.

However, Peterson had a strange college season at Kansas, where he handled the ball less than he did in high school and struggled to find a rhythm through a rash of nagging injuries and muscle cramping concerns.

With Dybantsa and Peterson off the board, the Memphis Grizzlies selected Cameron Boozer, an NBA-ready power forward who is the son of two-time All-Star Carlos Boozer.

The younger Boozer is considered likely the safest pick of the top four, already showing professional-level inside scoring and court awareness to go with his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame.

Boozer was the national player of the year in college last season, averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists at Duke, featuring an old-school post game to pair with modern range that allowed him to make 54 3-pointers last season.

The ACC has 248 first round draft picks in the NBA Draft since 2000.

That is 52 more first rounders than the next closest conference (SEC, 196). pic.twitter.com/wzQhQnZmQa

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 23, 2026

The Chicago Bulls rounded out the top four by taking athletic forward Caleb Wilson out of North Carolina as they continued their rebuilding effort under new president of basketball operations Bryson Graham.

Wilson has a less refined game than the rest of the top four, but he averaged 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds last season and could project as the best defender of the four.

The Bulls also had the No. 15 pick, selecting swingman Dailyn Swain out of Texas.

A run on guards

The second tier of players in this draft was extremely guard-heavy, and four consecutive backcourt players were taken with pick Nos. 5-8.

The Los Angeles Clippers held the fifth pick thanks to the mid-season trade that sent Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers. At No. 5, the Clippers took Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, the biggest of the four guards, to play alongside Darius Garland.

The Brooklyn Nets selected Mikel Brown Jr. out of Louisville at No. 6, followed by the Sacramento Kings using the seventh pick on Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr.

The Atlanta Hawks selected Kingston Flemings out of Houston with the No. 8 pick, which was acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans during last year’s draft.

May and his Michigan men

Just one day after Dusty May agreed to leave Michigan to become the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, his new team immediately acquired one of the key players from the Wolverines’ national championship team.

The Mavs used the No. 9 selection on big man Morez Johnson Jr., allowing him to continue to play under May and give Dallas a presence in the paint alongside last year’s No. 1 pick, Cooper Flagg.

Michigan teammates Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara went within the next three picks, making the Wolverines the first NCAA champions to have three lottery picks in the following draft in the common era.

Contenders retooling

While much of the attention leading up to the draft was on the rebuilding teams picking in the top four, several contending teams added to their talent pool.

The Oklahoma City Thunder used the No. 12 selection on Michigan’s Mara, a 7-foot-3 center, as the 2025 champions look to respond to their loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Thunder also added Iowa sharpshooter Bennett Stirtz after trading up one spot to No. 16.

The Spurs followed up their run to the NBA Finals by drafting Jayden Quaintance out of Kentucky with the 20th pick.

The veteran Golden State Warriors selected Michigan’s Lendeborg at No. 11, giving them the Big Ten Player of the Year to help squeeze every ounce of contention out of Stephen Curry’s career.

Just a week after their championship parade, the New York Knicks traded back one pick and took Spain’s Sergio De Larrea, a 6-foot-5 swingman with versatile skills.

Rebuilding Bucks

Less than 24 hours after finalising a trade that will send Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks began the long task of rebuilding.

With their own pick, the Bucks selected Arizona guard Brayden Burries at No. 10. With the No. 13 pick, the Heat selected Tennessee forward Nate Ament, with the intent of sending him to Milwaukee as a part of Monday’s trade.