'26 NBA Draft: Round One takeaways & looking at Round Two
It was a thrilling night here at Barclays Center—tons of expected picks, many surprises as well. The night began with questions surrounding the first overall selection.
Would it be Dybantsa or Peterson?
It wound up being AJ Dybantsa. The first-ever BYU product to be selected first overall, and he is headed to Washington. The board pretty much shook out as expected until the 9th overall selection.
Dusty May was hired by the Mavericks 24 hours before this draft. People around the league had a feeling that he could lean toward one of his Wolverines with that pick, and he did just that, selecting Morez Johnson Jr., who had a meteoric rise throughout this process.
Johnson, once viewed as a guy to be picked in the 20s, ended up making a massive leap and going Top 10.
Following that, the Post-Giannis Era (pending the tratrade'snalization) began with one of the two lottery picks the Milwaukee Bucks made on Tuesday night. They selected both Arizona'sayden Burries [NO.10] and Tennessee's Nate Ament [NO.13], which is a really good haul for the BucBucks'build.
Things continued to get interesting. Dailyn Swain was another big-time riser, but I happen to be a fan of the selection. He’s a long, athletic two-way wing that will add to what Bryson Graham is trying to bring to the Bulls organization.
The Thunder got in the mix when they picked Aday Mara with the 12th overall pick, but what they did after enticed me even more. Presti and Co. traded with Memphis and landed Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz, whom we wrote about earlier this week.
“Anyone that gets him in their organization will be better for it,” said Iowa assistant coach Connor Wheeler. I feel Stirtz is going to be one of this draft's steals, and a perfect fit for the Thunder.
Hornets were another draft winner for me. After a great draft last year, they followed it up again this year. They selected Hannes Steinbach (NO.14) and Christian Anderson Jr. (NO.18).
Anderson Jr. was one of my ‘must-gets' in this draft, and I wrote about his value in this draft earlier this week.
With the second round approaching, there is still plenty of talent available. Duke’s Isaiah Evans was in the green room this evening and was the lone invitee without a draft selection. He will likely be among the first selections to begin the second round.
Others include: Henri Veesaar, Meleek Thomas, Richie Saunders, Baba Miller, Braden Smith, Ryan Conwell, others.
