Mock draft 2026

gunks said:
I can't get hyped for Boozer.

Bigs without elite defense just don't seem to have the impact you need from a franchise cornerstone. Floor raisers for sure, but if your best player is a KAT or Domas type, you're never going to be a contender, even if they have neat counting stats.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Unless the big man is also a defensive stud, I’d pick a wing or guard over a non-defensive big man.

That said, if we fall to #5 post lottery and it’s Boozer sitting there at 5, I’d take him in a heartbeat.

It’s been a wing/guard league for a long time now.
 
QWERTYLICIOUS said:
Cam or Yaxel?
Click to expand...

Cam. Hes just way too dominant as an 18 year old, beating up the toughest schedule in college basketball. Hes having a historically great college basketball season.

Its the same exact conversations everyone had with Luka to a T; not athletic enough, disregarding the level of production he was playing at, non-defender. And while theres certainly some concerns there,a few things: he's projected in the big wing spot, not the 5 in the NBA, outside of some small ball 5 lineups which i think hed thrive in. So you can put him next to a.. Dylan Cardwell.. and have an incredibly physical interior that dominates the glass while Cardwell cleans the rim. Hes spacing at an elite level too, so that's not a concern either.

Hes not a vertical athlete, but he knows how to use his physicality, which i don't see how many teams have a good match up for him. He's too big and physical for a wing to matchup on him and too quick and skilled for a traditional 5 to stick on him.

I think the fit with Domas might get clunky, but id still love to see it with a creative coach thay could utilize both of their passing and offensive skill. And even then, I'm prioritizing Boozer, not Domas in that scenario, as much as I love Domas
 
The_Jamal said:
Cam. Hes just way too dominant as an 18 year old, beating up the toughest schedule in college basketball. Hes having a historically great college basketball season.

Its the same exact conversations everyone had with Luka to a T; not athletic enough, disregarding the level of production he was playing at, non-defender. And while theres certainly some concerns there,a few things: he's projected in the big wing spot, not the 5 in the NBA, outside of some small ball 5 lineups which i think hed thrive in. So you can put him next to a.. Dylan Cardwell.. and have an incredibly physical interior that dominates the glass while Cardwell cleans the rim. Hes spacing at an elite level too, so that's not a concern either.

Hes not a vertical athlete, but he knows how to use his physicality, which i don't see how many teams have a good match up for him. He's too big and physical for a wing to matchup on him and too quick and skilled for a traditional 5 to stick on him.

I think the fit with Domas might get clunky, but id still love to see it with a creative coach thay could utilize both of their passing and offensive skill. And even then, I'm prioritizing Boozer, not Domas in that scenario, as much as I love Domas
Click to expand...
Yeah, he's definitely going to make a team or two regret not drafting him.
 
The_Jamal said:
Yep. Got a funny feeling everyone is going to overthink him, he'll go 5 and then put up 25-12-4 in 2 years
Click to expand...
Feels like all of the top guys in this class are sort of falling victim to the “they can’t possibly be that good” tax where everyone is trying to find reasons not to be excited about guys who are all actually potential superstar level guys.
 
ESP47 said:
I'm just waiting on Perry to pass up on Dybansta because he wants to see how the Keegan/Hunter pairing will work out.
Click to expand...
I mean, he honestly can be forgiven for passing on AJ in this draft as long as he’s not picking at like five and AJ has fallen somehow or if he’s not doing something crazy like passing on him to draft Acuff.

AJ is a great prospect. Peterson, Cam, Caleb, and Flemings also are great prospects. It’s not a 1 and then a bunch of other guys draft. It’s a 1A, 1B, 1C sort of deal in a way we really haven’t seen in a draft since… i dunno, 2003 or something but that draft had LeBron as the clear number one and then a bunch of other elite prospects under him (and Darko).
 
Tetsujin said:
I mean, he honestly can be forgiven for passing on AJ in this draft as long as he’s not picking at like five and AJ has fallen somehow or if he’s not doing something crazy like passing on him to draft Acuff.

AJ is a great prospect. Peterson, Cam, Caleb, and Flemings also are great prospects. It’s not a 1 and then a bunch of other guys draft. It’s a 1A, 1B, 1C sort of deal in a way we really haven’t seen in a draft since… i dunno, 2003 or something but that draft had LeBron as the clear number one and then a bunch of other elite prospects under him (and Darko).
Click to expand...

Every team drafting in the top 10 this year will have a chance to draft a very very good player. The goal is not to be the team that drafts Darko.
 
The Kings getting a top 3 pick or not probably determines the entire future of this current regime. 2027 sounds like it might be lacking in the draft and with no money I can see the Perry and co. not even lasting to 2027 if things get too bad. Might be a perfect year to clear cap and try and go after a real name GM at that point if it's basically square one. Then they can kind of do their own thing from a clean slate.
 
Tetsujin said:
My condolences to the GM that takes Nate Ament.
Click to expand...
I don't know...

Ament is coming around a bit, and I think the mistake was to view him as a PF. He's a wing. He's a very tall, very long, very quick wing who can move his feet and defend on the perimeter. Can shoot from outside, can handle, can create his own shot. He may have a longer adjustment period to the next level, but I'm not seeing bust right now. Early on, yeah, I did. Feeling better about him now.
 
Tetsujin said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2025627224855187928

Like if we’re going to justifiably be excited by AJ putting up these numbers we should also be excited by Cam also putting up these numbers.
Click to expand...
Another crazy thing is that a lot of people are suggesting that NEITHER of these guys go #1 overall because there's another really good dude who isn't putting up those numbers because he's playing hurt.

A fun game to play would be to figure out how many players in this draft would have been the unquestioned #1 overall in the 2024 draft. Like, it can't be less than 6, right? And maybe pushing out to 10 or so? With the meh at the top of that draft, I think the case could easily be made for Castle to have been #1 instead of Risacher. But then look at Castle's stats compared to Labaron Philon's and...umm...
 
The_Jamal said:
Meanwhile, ill be waiting for us to get #1, draft AJ and then play him 18 MPG behind Hunter and Keegan because "he's not ready yet, but Doug loves.him"
Click to expand...
I am 100% on drafting AJ to be a primary ball handler. Do not use him as a wing, put him on the ball. Ask him to guard the SGs with his length and put a smaller defender/role player in next to him to guard the PGs. (The long con on Devin Carter/Nique Clifford is now becoming clear...)
 
Capt. Factorial said:
I am 100% on drafting AJ to be a primary ball handler. Do not use him as a wing, put him on the ball. Ask him to guard the SGs with his length and put a smaller defender/role player in next to him to guard the PGs. (The long con on Devin Carter/Nique Clifford is now becoming clear...)
Click to expand...

That would be the smart thing. Primary ball handlers aren't PG's, they're stars. Period. If they happen to be the smallest player on the floor then it just happens to be that way. This idea of the "PG" position is a totally antiquated thought process.
 
Capt. Factorial said:
I am 100% on drafting AJ to be a primary ball handler. Do not use him as a wing, put him on the ball. Ask him to guard the SGs with his length and put a smaller defender/role player in next to him to guard the PGs. (The long con on Devin Carter/Nique Clifford is now becoming clear...)
Click to expand...

Keegan can guard up anyway, which is better defensive spot when he checks opposing guards, so that's a real non-issue.

Nique-AJ-Keegan-Hunter-Domas

Carter-Monk-Max-Cardwell

If AJ is who we think he is, that's a damn near perfect team build around a true #1. The more I start looking at any of our potential long-term pieces (meaning just sans Russ/DDR/LaVine), the more I actually like the talent; it just not enough without a franchise cornerstone. Domas, as good as he is, needs to be Pau on the Lakers with a Kobe for a contending team.
 
The_Jamal said:
Keegan can guard up anyway, which is better defensive spot when he checks opposing guards, so that's a real non-issue.

Nique-AJ-Keegan-Hunter-Domas

Carter-Monk-Max-Cardwell

If AJ is who we think he is, that's a damn near perfect team build around a true #1. The more I start looking at any of our potential long-term pieces (meaning just sans Russ/DDR/LaVine), the more I actually like the talent; it just not enough without a franchise cornerstone. Domas, as good as he is, needs to be Pau on the Lakers with a Kobe for a contending team.
Click to expand...

For those who still think Domas can stick around and be a part of this team's next core group, does him getting knee surgery a couple months before he turns 30 give you pause?
 
The_Jamal said:
Keegan can guard up anyway, which is better defensive spot when he checks opposing guards, so that's a real non-issue.

Nique-AJ-Keegan-Hunter-Domas

Carter-Monk-Max-Cardwell

If AJ is who we think he is, that's a damn near perfect team build around a true #1. The more I start looking at any of our potential long-term pieces (meaning just sans Russ/DDR/LaVine), the more I actually like the talent; it just not enough without a franchise cornerstone. Domas, as good as he is, needs to be Pau on the Lakers with a Kobe for a contending team.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can see it working with AJ here and panning out. But I can't imagine that the first year is going to be that smooth, we wouldn't start to come into our window until the second year. At that point Hunter is potentially out, Monk is on a PO, and you've got a couple of guys on their walk year. If Hunter is still around, I still might elevate Cardwell to play bigger minutes as our defensive big and move DeAndre to the bench.

But any way you cut it, this draft is going to be big for us. Grabbing AJ as our primary ball handler could allow us to do a very quick reset with the current personnel. Otherwise we may be in for some longer-term shuffling.
 
hrdboild said:
For those who still think Domas can stick around and be a part of this team's next core group, does him getting knee surgery a couple months before he turns 30 give you pause?
Click to expand...
So, I thought he actually looked really good when he was playing in that short stretch but obviously his day-to-day recovery wasn't there. Fact of it is, he's got two years on his deal. If his knee's shot, his knee's shot and we move on. But we have two years to figure out if it's shot or if he can still contribute. I don't see any pause here, I just think we play it out and see where it goes.
 
SacTownKid said:
The Kings getting a top 3 pick or not probably determines the entire future of this current regime. 2027 sounds like it might be lacking in the draft and with no money I can see the Perry and co. not even lasting to 2027 if things get too bad. Might be a perfect year to clear cap and try and go after a real name GM at that point if it's basically square one. Then they can kind of do their own thing from a clean slate.
Click to expand...

I don’t think 2027 is going to be as bad of a draft as people were claiming going into the season. It’s not nearly as deep of a class as this one is and the top guys in 2027 aren’t the potential world breakers that the ones in this one are but I could see a guy like Cam Williams (6’11” big man in the Mobley mold but maybe not as long) having a strong year at Duke and flashing star potential on top of all the solid guards in the class. All in all, probably not going to regret not having the rights to the Spurs pick next year (barring them somehow winding up in the lotto) but our own pick (assuming we suck) will still probably net a strong prospect to pair with the alpha we hopefully take this summer.
 
Last edited:
Capt. Factorial said:
Yeah, I can see it working with AJ here and panning out. But I can't imagine that the first year is going to be that smooth, we wouldn't start to come into our window until the second year. At that point Hunter is potentially out, Monk is on a PO, and you've got a couple of guys on their walk year. If Hunter is still around, I still might elevate Cardwell to play bigger minutes as our defensive big and move DeAndre to the bench.

But any way you cut it, this draft is going to be big for us. Grabbing AJ as our primary ball handler could allow us to do a very quick reset with the current personnel. Otherwise we may be in for some longer-term shuffling.
Click to expand...

Yeah the exact names don't really matter, but in terms of the "archetypes" Defenders, shooters, secondary playmakers, etc. High IQ intelligent passers. It's a team build that would have a real chance to be successful once AJ (or whoever the rook is) comes into his own.
 
hrdboild said:
For those who still think Domas can stick around and be a part of this team's next core group, does him getting knee surgery a couple months before he turns 30 give you pause?
Click to expand...

Nah, it's a meniscus. He could have played through it most likely. The issue is his contract. Again, having Keegan and Domas taking up half the cap pretty much nips a lot of chances to fully build out a roster over time. They have one real chance in 2027 to use cap space, after that time is realy ticking considering Keegan is already 28 at that point. Now, giving them a bit of time next season to see isn't the worst thing but a rebuild without a cleared cap isn't a rebuild at all. Yeah, it looks wrong but if the Kings luck into Cam Boozer then letting the two play together is worth a shot IMO. If it doesn't work oh well, but if it does then maybe that rebuild doesn't require much cap space.
 
The_Jamal said:
Keegan can guard up anyway, which is better defensive spot when he checks opposing guards, so that's a real non-issue.

Nique-AJ-Keegan-Hunter-Domas

Carter-Monk-Max-Cardwell

If AJ is who we think he is, that's a damn near perfect team build around a true #1. The more I start looking at any of our potential long-term pieces (meaning just sans Russ/DDR/LaVine), the more I actually like the talent; it just not enough without a franchise cornerstone. Domas, as good as he is, needs to be Pau on the Lakers with a Kobe for a contending team.
Click to expand...

Domas isn’t as good as Pau and we need to lose next year as well get AJ a running mate if we actual wanna contend. 30 year old Sabonis isn’t gonna cut it and AJ will bail in 7 years if we don’t build around him. Sabonis should not be on the roster next year
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Capt. Factorial
  • Poll Poll
Return of the Desert Island Draft?
2 3
Replies
77
Views
5K
Capt. Factorial
Capt. Factorial
Geoff
VF KingsFans Official Fantasy Basketball League 2025-2026 Season
Replies
5
Views
3K
Geoff
Geoff
bajaden
Bajaden's real 2024 Mock Draft: Part one
2 3
Replies
63
Views
10K
KingsFanSince85
KingsFanSince85
bajaden
Bajaden's final 2023 Mock Draft
2 3 4
Replies
92
Views
12K
ockingsfan
ockingsfan
bajaden
Baja Den's way too early, worthless 2023 mock draft:
10 11 12
Replies
332
Views
31K
funkykingston
funkykingston
Back
Top