2026 NBA Mock Draft: Nets bet big on Nate Ament at No. 6; Keaton Wagler slides down board
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- AJ Dybantsa (BYU) is projected to the Washington Wizards at No. 1 after leading college basketball in scoring as a freshman at 25.5 PPG, with the author calling the No. 1 call between Dybantsa and Peterson the draft's most intense debate
- Darryn Peterson (Kansas) — whom the author calls "the best player in the class" — falls to the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 3, having missed 11 games due to cramping while still outplaying Dybantsa in their head-to-head tape
- Cameron Boozer (Duke) goes to the Utah Jazz at No. 2 in what the author calls "one of the best one-and-done seasons in college basketball history," averaging 22.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG and 39.1% from three
- Nate Ament (Tennessee) is the Nets' "wild card" swing at No. 6 — a 6'10" forward whose freshman year was a "mixed bag" (39% FG) but whose tools make him a buy-low bet on potential, with Brooklyn already holding three first-round point guards from last summer
- Keaton Wagler (Illinois) — who went from "unsung recruit" to All-American as a freshman — slides to the Dallas Mavericks at No. 9, where the mock frames him as a fit alongside Kyrie Irving and a long-term running mate for Cooper Flagg
- Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas) lands with the Sacramento Kings at No. 7, which the author calls "the worst kept secret in the NBA Draft," noting Kings GM Scott Perry coached Acuff's father at Eastern Kentucky in the 1990s
Why it matters: The mock crystallizes a real top-of-draft split — the author openly calls Peterson the best player in the class yet projects Dybantsa to Washington — and the source says the picks could "change the trajectory of their program for the next decade." Brooklyn's decision to take Ament over a loaded point guard class, and Wagler's drop from lottery buzz to No. 9, are the kind of swings that get judged half a decade later.
