The 2026 NBA draft was the 80th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft. This was the first draft since 2021 with 60 picks, as no teams forfeited second-round draft picks for free agency violations. The first round of the draft was held on June 23, and the second round was held on June 24. The Washington Wizards selected small forward AJ Dybantsa out of Brigham Young University first overall.
Draft selections PG Point guard SG Shooting guard SF Small forward PF Power forward C Center
Player Team 11#SF Washington WizardsBYU 12#SG/PG Utah JazzKansas 13#PF Memphis GrizzliesDuke 14#SF/PF Chicago BullsNorth Carolina 15#SG/PG Los Angeles Clippers Illinois 16#PG Brooklyn NetsLouisville 17#PG Sacramento KingsArkansas 18#PGAtlanta Hawks Houston 19#PF/CDallas MavericksMichigan 110#SG/PGMilwaukee BucksArizona 111#PFGolden State WarriorsMichigan 112#COklahoma City Thunder Michigan 113#SFMiami Heat Tennessee 114#PFCharlotte HornetsWashington 115#SG/SFChicago Bulls Texas 116#PGMemphis Grizzlies Iowa 117#PGOklahoma City Thunder Stanford 118#PGCharlotte Hornets Texas Tech 119#PFToronto RaptorsSanta Clara 120#PF/CSan Antonio Spurs Kentucky 121#SFDetroit Pistons New Zealand Breakers 122#PGPhiladelphia 76ers Alabama 123#PFAtlanta Hawks St. John's 124#SGNew York Knicks Baylor 125#PG/SGLos Angeles Lakers Valencia 126#CDenver Nuggets UConn 127#PF/CBoston CelticsHouston 128#PF/SFMinnesota Timberwolves Iowa State 129#SF/PFCleveland Cavaliers UConn 130#PFDallas Mavericks Arizona 231#PGNew York Knicks Ohio State 232#SGMemphis Grizzlies BYU 233#SFBrooklyn Nets Duke 234#SG/PGSacramento Kings Arkansas 235#PFSan Antonio Spurs Arkansas 236#SFLos Angeles Clippers Cincinnati 237#SGOklahoma City Thunder Louisville 238#PGChicago Bulls Purdue 239#PGHouston Rockets Alba Berlin 240#SFBoston Celtics St. John's 241#SGMiami Heat Kentucky 242#PGSan Antonio Spurs Tennessee 243#PFBrooklyn Nets UCLA 244#PFSan Antonio Spurs Duke 245#SGSacramento Kings Houston 246#COrlando Magic Tennessee 247#SGPhoenix Suns Vanderbilt 248#PFDallas Mavericks Virginia Tech 249#SFDenver Nuggets St. John's 250#PGToronto RaptorsArizona 251#PF/CWashington Wizards South Florida 252#CLos Angeles Clippers North Carolina 253#CHouston Rockets Virginia 254#SGGolden State Warriors Florida State 255#SFNew York Knicks Northwestern 256#SFChicago Bulls PBC Lokomotiv Kuban 257#CAtlanta Hawks Poitiers Basket 86 258#SGNew Orleans Pelicans SMU 259#PFMinnesota Timberwolves Purdue 260#SFWashington Wizards South East Melbourne Phoenix
Trades involving draft picks
Pre-draft trades Prior to the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of draft picks between teams:
Post-draft trades Post-draft trades are made after the draft begins. These trades are usually not confirmed until the next day or after free agency officially begins.
Combine The 12th G League Elite Camp took place on May 8–10, from which certain participants were selected to join the main draft combine.
The primary portion of the 2026 NBA draft combine was held from May 10–17 in Chicago, Illinois.
Draft lottery
The NBA draft lottery was held on May 10. It also aired nationally on ESPN and ABC. This would end up being the last NBA draft lottery to utilize the 1,001 possible lottery results, with the upcoming 2027 NBA draft utilizing a new draft lottery system for not just the regular lottery teams, but also the 8th seed of the NBA playoffs for each conference as well.
Denotes the actual lottery result
Team 2025–26record Lotterychances Lottery probabilities 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th Washington Wizards 17–65 140 14.0% 13.4% 12.7% 12.0% 47.9% – – – – – – – – – Indiana Pacers 19–63 140 14.0% 13.4% 12.7% 12.0% 27.8% 20.1% – – – – – – – – Brooklyn Nets 20–62 140 14.0% 13.4% 12.7% 12.0% 14.8% 26.0% 7.0% – – – – – – – Utah Jazz 22–60 115 11.5% 11.4% 11.2% 11.0% 7.5% 27.1% 17.9% 2.4% – – – – – – Sacramento Kings 22–60 115 11.5% 11.4% 11.2% 11.0% 2.0% 18.2% 25.5% 8.6% 0.6% – – – – – Memphis Grizzlies 25–57 90 9.0% 9.2% 9.4% 9.6% – 8.6% 29.7% 20.6% 3.7% 0.2% – – – – New Orleans Pelicans 26–56 68 6.8% 7.1% 7.5% 7.9% – – 19.8% 35.6% 13.8% 1.4% <0.1% – – – Dallas Mavericks 26–56 67 6.7% 7.0% 7.4% 7.8% – – – 32.9% 31.1% 6.6% 0.4% <0.1% – – Chicago Bulls 31–51 45 4.5% 4.8% 5.2% 5.7% – – – – 50.8% 25.9% 3.0% 0.1% <0.1% – Milwaukee Bucks 32–50 30 3.0% 3.3% 3.6% 4.0% – – – – – 65.9% 19.0% 1.2% <0.1% <0.1% Golden State Warriors 37–45 20 2.0% 2.2% 2.4% 2.8% – – – – – – 77.6% 12.6% 0.4% <0.1% Los Angeles Clippers 42–40 15 1.5% 1.7% 1.9% 2.1% – – – – – – – 86.1% 6.7% 0.1% Miami Heat 43–39 10 1.0% 1.1% 1.2% 1.4% – – – – – – – – 92.9% 2.3% Charlotte Hornets 44–38 5 0.5% 0.6% 0.6% 0.7% – – – – – – – – – 97.6%
Eligibility and entrants
The draft is conducted under the eligibility rules established in the league's 2023 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its players' union.
All drafted players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In terms of dates, players who were eligible for the 2026 NBA draft must have been born on or before December 31, 2007. Since the 2016 draft, the following rules are, as implemented by the NCAA Division I council for that division: Declaration for the draft no longer results in automatic loss of college eligibility. As long as a player does not sign a contract with a professional team outside the NBA or sign with an agent, he retains college eligibility as long as he makes a timely withdrawal from the draft. NCAA players now have 10 days after the end of the NBA draft combine to withdraw from the draft. Since the combine is normally held in mid-May, the current deadline is about five weeks after the previous mid-April deadline. NCAA players may participate in the draft combine and are allowed to attend one tryout per year with each NBA team without losing college eligibility. NCAA players may now enter and withdraw from the draft up to two times without loss of eligibility. Previously, the NCAA treated a second declaration of draft eligibility as a permanent loss of college eligibility.
Early entrants Players who were not automatically eligible had to declare their eligibility for the draft by notifying the NBA offices in writing no later than at least 60 days before the event. For the 2026 draft, the date fell on April 24. Under the CBA a player may withdraw his name from consideration from the draft at any time before the final declaration deadline, which usually falls 10 days before the draft at 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC). Under current NCAA rules, players usually have until 10 days after the draft combine to withdraw from the draft and retain college eligibility.
A player who has hired an agent for purposes of negotiating with professional teams retains his remaining college eligibility regardless of whether he is drafted after an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee. Players who declare for the NBA draft and are not selected have the opportunity to return to their school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with their agents, who must have been certified.
On April 27, 2026, the NBA announced 71 players (60 college players and 11 international prospects) who filed as early entry candidates. On May 29, 38 early entry candidates withdrew their eligibility. On June 16, three more candidates withdrew their eligibility.
College underclassmen
Darius Acuff Jr. – G, Arkansas (freshman) Nate Ament – F, Tennessee (freshman) / Christian Anderson Jr. – G, Texas Tech (sophomore) Cameron Boozer – F, Duke (freshman) Mikel Brown Jr. – G, Louisville (freshman) Brayden Burries – G, Arizona (freshman) Cameron Carr – G, Baylor (sophomore) Chris Cenac Jr. – F/C, Houston (freshman) AJ Dybantsa – F, BYU (freshman) Isaiah Evans – F, Duke (sophomore) Kingston Flemings – G, Houston (freshman) Allen Graves – F, Santa Clara (freshman) Morez Johnson Jr. – F, Michigan (sophomore) Aday Mara – C, Michigan (junior) Ebuka Okorie – G, Stanford (freshman) Koa Peat – F, Arizona (freshman) Darryn Peterson – G, Kansas (freshman) Labaron Philon Jr. – G, Alabama (sophomore) Jayden Quaintance – F/C, Kentucky (sophomore) Hannes Steinbach – F, Washington (freshman) Dailyn Swain – G/F, Texas (junior) Meleek Thomas – G, Arkansas (freshman) Bryson Tucker – F, Washington (sophomore) Henri Veesaar – C, North Carolina (junior) Keaton Wagler – G, Illinois (freshman) Caleb Wilson – F, North Carolina (freshman)
International players
Mohammad Amini – G, SLUC Nancy Basket (France) Sergio de Larrea – G, Valencia Basket (Spain) Vsevolod Ishchenko – G, PBC Lokomotiv Kuban (Russia) Jack Kayil – G, Alba Berlin (Germany) Karim López – F, New Zealand Breakers (Australia)
Automatically eligible entrants Players who do not meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria: They have no remaining college eligibility. If they graduated from high school in the U.S., but did not enroll in a U.S. college or university, four years have passed since their high school class graduated. They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA, anywhere in the world, and have played under the contract.
Players who meet the criteria for "international" players are automatically eligible if they meet any of the following criteria: They are at least 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft. In term of dates players born on or before December 31, 2004, are automatically eligible for the 2026 draft. They have signed a contract with a professional basketball team not in the NBA within the United States, and have played under that contract.
Invited attendees The NBA annually invites players to sit in the so-called "green room", a special room set aside at the draft site for the invited players plus their families and agents. Ever since the NBA transitioned itself to a two-day draft as of the previous year's draft, the NBA sends out its invitations in waves. The first wave was reported on June 9, with fourteen players confirmed to have received invitations.
Darius Acuff Jr. – G, Arkansas Nate Ament – F, Tennessee / Christian Anderson Jr. – G, Texas Tech Cameron Boozer – F, Duke Mikel Brown Jr. – G, Louisville Brayden Burries – G, Arizona AJ Dybantsa – F, BYU
Kingston Flemings – G, Houston Karim López – F, New Zealand Breakers Aday Mara – C, Michigan Darryn Peterson – G, Kansas Labaron Philon Jr. – G, Alabama Keaton Wagler – G, Illinois Caleb Wilson – F, North Carolina
A second group of invitees was announced on June 15.
Cameron Carr – G, Baylor Chris Cenac Jr. – F/C, Houston / Yaxel Lendeborg – F, Michigan
Morez Johnson Jr. – F, Michigan Hannes Steinbach – F, Washington Bennett Stirtz – G, Iowa
A third group of invitees was announced on June 17.
Isaiah Evans – F, Duke (sophomore) Allen Graves – F, Santa Clara (freshman)
Dailyn Swain – G/F, Texas (junior) Ebuka Okorie – G, Stanford (freshman)
A fourth and final group of invitees was announced on June 24. This time consisting of prospects for the second round, bringing the final total overall number to 34.
Mohammad Amini – G/F, Nancy Basket Donovan Atwell – G, Texas Tech / Rafael Castro – C, George Washington Tre Donaldson – G, Miami (FL) Jack Kayil – G, Alba Berlin
Tobi Lawal – F, Virginia Tech Baba Miller – F, Cincinnati Ugonna Onyenso – C, Virginia Meleek Thomas – G, Arkansas Bruce Thornton – G, Ohio State
Notes
References