Iowa Hawkeyes Transfer Highlighted in Early 2026 NBA Draft Forecast

The Iowa Hawkeyes basketball program has gone a couple of years without a first-round pick in the NBA Draft, but that should change next year. 

The Athletic’s NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie recently released a mock draft of sorts that highlighted Drake transfer Bennett Stirtz as the No. 12 overall player on the board.

“Stirtz was the player whom NBA scouts were most disappointed to see not even declare for the 2025 NBA Draft after he burst onto the scene at Drake,” Vecenie wrote.

Well, having such high draft stock out of Drake, there stands the opportunity for Stirtz to continue to grow under the tutelage of head coach Ben McCollum at Iowa. The boost in competition against the Big Ten and a chance to revitalize the Iowa program can also do some significant work for his draft stock next year, if those efforts bear positive results.

Climbing through the ranks has been the story for Stirtz. He got his collegiate start as a zero-star recruit out of Liberty, Missouri, at Northwest Missouri State. He’s since followed McCollum through the ranks, taking advantage of the jump to Drake and posting 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 40% from three and 50% from the floor.

While Stirtz doesn’t get much attention for his defensive efforts, he did lead the Missouri Valley Conference with 2.1 steals per game last year. If anything will boost his draft stock, playing solid defense in the Big Ten will certainly be the ticket.

As a 6-foot-4 point guard surrounded by capable shooters at Iowa, Stirtz has a real shot at generating serious draft buzz after the 2025-26 campaign. If he does keep that stock up and hears his name in the first round of next year’s draft, he’d be just the third Hawkeye since 1999 to do so, joining 2023 pick Kris Murray and 2022 No. 4 overall selection Keegan Murray.