Cooper Flagg gave the 2025 NBA Draft the celebrity it wanted on the prime 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 may be — an all-time sturdy 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 through the school and worldwide season, but it surely has been sobering in some methods as no apparent No. 3 prospect has emerged and several other projected prime picks have underwhelmed.
Perhaps it’s solely pure to at all times assume the incoming expertise a 12 months out seems much more intriguing, however there’s nearly no technique to deny it because it pertains to the 2026 draft. NBA Draft lessons are sometimes 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 subsequent era 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 turn into a respectable candidate for the No. 1 general choose after a ridiculous run out-playing his prime friends during the last 12 months. There isn’t any prospect on the earth 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 a giant 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 in opposition to the Boozer twins in Nov., 32-point, 10-rebound, and eight help recreation in opposition to Dybantsa in Dec., and a 31-point efficiency in opposition to Nate Ament at Hoophall Basic in Jan. In every of those settings, Peterson has confirmed how his unreal two-way versatility scales up in opposition to elite competitors.
Peterson is a gifted powerful shot-maker, however his recreation is a lot deeper than that. He’s uniquely positioned to hit contested pictures inside the arc with unbelievable physique management and delicate contact even whereas off-balance. He could make floaters and layups with both hand, and he does an incredible job hanging within the air and squaring himself to the basket when he assaults the rim.
Peterson creates probabilities for himself together with his particular driving skill. He has the ball on a string as a handler, and may mud defenders together 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 power his personal offense regardless of the flexibility to hit pictures everywhere in the flooring.
Peterson’s motor and physicality is simply as placing as his contact. Whereas he’s not a Thompson twin-level athlete, he exhibits unbelievable 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 desires it.
Gamers as gifted as Peterson offensively sometimes don’t convey 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 skill to be a main handler and higher athletic items. He may be the most effective recruit Invoice Self has ever landed at Kansas, forward of Andrew Wiggins and Josh Jackson (Joel Embiid grew to become the most effective 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. In brief, his profitable pedigree is unmatched amongst any current prospect to enter the NBA, and his mixture of energy, intelligence, and talent offers him actual celebrity upside regardless of some velocity and leaping limitations.
At 6’10 with a powerful body, Boozer brings great 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 subsequent, he’ll provoke the offense on the perimeter like a wing. He’s driver and handler for somebody so large, and he can dislodge defenders on his technique to the basket together with his enormous body.
Boozer’s general really feel for the sport is one in all his finest attributes, and it exhibits up everywhere in the tape in his passing skill. He has nice courtroom imaginative and prescient to ship dimes on time and on course everywhere in the flooring. It looks like he has a uncommon skill to map the ground and know the place everyone seems to be, so he can at all times assume one step forward of the protection. His scoring gravity and passing skill 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 in opposition to prime 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 aspect 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 in opposition to.
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 will look quite a bit like Dybantsa. A 6’9 jumbo wing, Dybantsa has an awesome mixture of size and athleticism and that offers him the most effective bodily items of any prospect not presently within the NBA.
Dybantsa goes to have the ability to rating contained in the arc together with his physicality alone. His energy, size, and open flooring velocity is a deadly mixture that may nonetheless be elite on the highest ranges. He’s going to be a power attacking closeouts and getting out in transition, giving him a pathway to straightforward buckets that don’t generate spotlight reel clicks like his powerful shot-making does.
In fact, Dybantsa doesn’t simply win together with his instruments. His extremely superior as a ball handler and long-range shooter for his age and his dimension, giving him takeover scoring skill on any given night time. Proper now, he’s the most effective three-point shooter among the many prime prospects on the earth: 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 the earth, and if that occurs, there’s no cap on his long-term upside.
Dybantsa has main upside on the defensive finish too together 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 talent that Peterson exhibits. Nonetheless, Dybantsa’s mixture of dimension, capturing, dealing with, and athleticism is the stuff No. 1 general picks are made from.
He may be third on my listing, however he nonetheless looks like the favourite to go first general in 2026.
