Projecting the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery

The 2026 NBA Draft is nearly a full calendar year away, though it’s never too early to begin pontificating about which players land where.

The class is said to hold as many as three No. 1-level prospects in Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa, with potentially more set to join their ranks.

It’s highlighted by the influx of incoming five-stars, but certainly has its fair share of solid returnees, too, in Bennett Stirtz, Thomas Haugh, Jayden Quaintance (if he classifies as a returnee at freshly 18), and plenty more.

Potentially even harder than projecting where players will finish will be guessing where teams finish. While there’s a trio of expected bottom-tier teams in the Jazz, Washington and Nets, it’s exceptionally hard to predict past that. Teams like Charlotte, Portland and more are on the rise talent-wise, but could still see down seasons due to the NBA’s general talent-level.

Suffice it to say, guessing both where players land and which teams those are is nearly impossible this far out. Still, it can be an informative exercise.

In a recent video posted to YouTube, we attempted to project the 2026 NBA Draft lottery. We used the current Tankathon order — which will undoubtedly be incorrect as any other project would be — but will be right on several fronts. 

You can watch the video, or read on to see how the order shook out: