The 2026 NBA Draft is done and dusted, and it was… surprisingly tame? The three biggest surprises came during the respective slides of Labaron Philon Jr. and Henri Veesaar, as well as when Dallas selected Morez Johnson Jr. ninth overall.
There were hardly any big-time trades involving picks or star players during the draft — Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball and Julius Randle were all moved in the hours beforehand and afterward.
Like with any draft, analysts are quick to anoint certain teams as winners and bash others as losers, but it takes years to truly know who made the most of their resources. Even still, it’s fun to offer knee-jerk reactions to the decisions made during the nights before. Let’s get into the 2026 NBA Draft winners and losers.
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2026 NBA Draft Winners & Losers
2026 NBA Draft Winners
Oklahoma City Thunder
Has there been a more relevant draft selection made to combat a playoff foe than Oklahoma City bringing in Aday Mara to battle Victor Wembanyama? It’s doubtful, at least in recent memory.
The selection of Mara is a direct response to the Spurs knocking off the Thunder last month and to Isaiah Hartenstein‘s looming team option decision. Should the Thunder elect to let Hartenstein walk, replacing him with someone of Mara’s size, feel and skillset is good business.
Additionally, the Thunder brought in Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz just four picks after Mara. Stirtz is a turnover-averse lead guard with an incredible ability to create his own perimeter shot. Oklahoma City can bring Stirtz, Jared McCain, Ajay Mitchell, Cason Wallace and Nikola Topic off the bench as backups next season. A hilarious embarrassment of riches.
Sacramento Kings
Outside of those drafting in the top four, perhaps no team gave its fanbase more hope than Sacramento. By letting the draft come to them, the Kings were able to acquire Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., one of the most exciting players in the class.
Kings fans have endured watching their former guard duo of Tyrese Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox star on their respective NBA Finals teams in consecutive seasons. They also witnessed former head coach Mike Brown win it all just a few weeks ago. Even by the Kings’ standards, that’s brutal.
Acuff will step into Sacramento’s locker room as the go-to guy — with all due respect to Zach LaVine, of course. There’s a real chance that Acuff captures the Rookie of the Year award off of volume alone next season. If he undergoes a defensive remaking in the near future, you’re looking at a serious All-NBA threat.
Chicago Bulls
As the new lead decision-maker of a storied franchise, Chicago’s Executive VP Bryson Graham is as responsible for instilling a winning culture as he is for building a competitive roster. Sometimes those things are mutually exclusive.
Graham certainly took strides towards accomplishing those two goals by drafting Caleb Wilson fourth and Texas’ Dailyn Swain 15th. Both athletic, versatile forwards, the pair will be key in Chicago’s rebuild.
Wilson will be tasked with guarding the NBA’s best forwards from the jump and relied upon as a play finisher. Swain, on the other hand, is more dynamic with the ball. The former Longhorn handles like a guard and is excellent at weaving through waves of defenders to get to the rim.
Philadelphia 76ers
You can point to any number of questionable moves that Daryl Morey made as Philly’s president of basketball operations as a reason for his firing. The trading of Jared McCain for what became pick 22 at last year’s deadline is easy to critique. Somehow, though, it may not look so bad after Labaron Philon Jr. fell into the lap of Mike Gansey, Morey’s successor.
Philon emerged as the biggest faller of the first round and was passed on by teams that could’ve used the services of an offensively versatile point guard. For Philadelphia, the talent was obviously too great to follow suit.
VJ Edgecombe, Tyrese Maxey and Nick Nurse all could’ve used a ball-handling guard off the bench during the latter stages of last season. Philon will be entrusted to be just that as a rookie, providing some much-needed respite for Philadelphia’s guard duo.
Milwaukee Bucks
A lot has been made of Milwaukee’s decision to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami for a slew of young players and picks, rather than to Boston for Jaylen Brown and lesser draft compensation. After looking over the Bucks’ post-draft roster, they probably made the right call.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst used Milwaukee’s own pick to select Arizona’s Brayden Burries 10th overall, and then Miami’s selection at 13 to grab Tennessee’s Nate Ament.
Burries, a 6-foot-4 stocky guard, could’ve gone to any number of teams in that range. The 6-foot-10 Ament projects as more of a project in the NBA. At this stage, Milwaukee is a great place to develop, considering the lack of championship pressure and ball-dominant talent on the roster.
All in all, Horst did a good job of acquiring high-upside players in both the draft and the Antetokounmpo trade, and of turning a new page for the franchise.
2026 NBA Draft Losers
New York Knicks
With key players headed to free agency for the defending champs, the draft was an opportune time to cover potential losses. Instead, the Knicks opted to acquire what appears to be an entire round’s worth of seconds, which fall across the next seven drafts. Heck, the Knicks received the rights to a player drafted in 2009 on Tuesday.
Jordan Clarkson, Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado are all set to hit free agency in one way or another in the coming days. It’s unclear who will return, if any of them.
New York can opt to bring in free agents on minimum contracts, which is certainly more cost-effective than late first-round rookies, but maintaining year-to-year consistency in the second unit is as important as it’s ever been.
New Orleans Pelicans
From the Pelicans’ perspective, and this is written with respect to Derik Queen and his promising rookie season, watching the Hawks use the Pelicans’ pick to take their point guard of the future in a super-talented class must’ve stung.
For those who don’t remember, the Pelicans traded a 2026 unprotected first-round pick, which became pick eight (Kingston Flemings), and the eventual rights to Asa Newell to Atlanta to move up for Queen during last year’s draft.
The jury is still out — and will be for a while — on all three of these players, but there’s no denying that a team like the Pelicans trading unprotected picks was bad process.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Thunder’s selection of Aday Mara meant that the Paul George trade has mostly been fulfilled.
Per Yahoo! Sports, the Thunder traded George for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mara, Brooks Barnhizer, Thomas Sorber, Jalen Williams and a protected 2027 first-round pick (belonging to the Spurs). And that’s just a list of the assets still connected to the Thunder.
In other news, Keaton Wagler will be good.
