2026 NBA draft thread.

[patrickgpe]

Bucks have their highest pick since taking Parker. Looking over things it seems like Karim Lopez profiles as the type of player the bucks draft. 

[nate82]

No idea who they will go with.  Lopez makes sense if the Bucks are going to do a full rebuild but I doubt they will do that.  

[GAME05]

There's also getting more of a true PG which the Bucks need whether Giannis is here or not.

[patrickgpe]

2 hours ago, nate82 said:

No idea who they will go with.  Lopez makes sense if the Bucks are going to do a full rebuild but I doubt they will do that.  

I think the draft is about 8 players deep. Then there is a decent drop off, which complicates matters. Horst seems obsessed with finding the next Giannis and is famous for drafting projects. The problem is that he just hit on those. 

[patrickgpe]

Bleacher Report has Fleming fall to the Bucks. I would be happy about that. 
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25429974-new-2026-nba-mock-draft-blockbuster-lamelo-ball-trade-idea

it seems that Nate Ament is the most common guy linked to the Bucks, I would not be a fan of that. A guy I do like is Lendeborg. He seems like he can do everything his nothing elite. 

[patrickgpe]

1 week to go. Its hard to make any predictions until we see if Giannis gets traded. The 2 scenerios that I do like is that the bucks / Celtics / clippers make a 3 way trade and the bucks get 5 to take Acuff, or Giannis is moved to the heat for a package that includes 13 and 10/13 are moved to get as high of a pick as possible. 
if the Bucks stay at 10 the 2 guys I like are Karim Lopez or Lendoburg. 

[jay87shot]

Burries is my guy at 10, very efficient and good defender. Seemed like a good leader and not a me player when I watched Zona. If we end up with 13 it depends alot on if we trade Turner and/or Bobby. I do like Aday Mara and a Ware big man pairing at least defensively. I dont think if we would have 10 and 13 I would try and trade up I think it would only get us to like 6 and to me this draft is deep so the difference between 6 and 10 (or 13) isn't huge.

 

[patrickgpe]

Obviously the Giannis trade changes things for tonight. Instead of drafting guys line Lendoburg, hopefully the bucks focus on projects that can be good in a couple of years.  I have said since the lottery that Karim Lopez screams a Horst pick. 

[sveumrules]

So entering the draft, If I've got this all right the Bucks current roster and pick situation is...

Tyler Herro
$33M then UFA (extension eligible?)

Myles Turner
3/$84M

Koooooooooz
$20.5M then UFA

AJ Green
4/$45M then UFA

Jakucionis
3/$14M then RFA

Kel'el Ware
2/$12M then RFA

Ryan Rollins
2/$8M then UFA

Jaime Jacquez Jr
$6M then RFA (extension eligible?)

Gary Harris
$3.8M player option exercised

Ousmane Dieng
Restricted Free Agent

Damian Lillard
$22.5M through 2029-30

PENDING PLAYER OPTIONS
KPJ ($5.4M, extension candidate?), Trent Jr ($3.9M), Prince ($3.9M), Sims ($2.8M)

There is also Pete Nance at $2.5M though I believe that is only partially guaranteed, plus Jackson Jr on a $2.4M team option that I'd guess won't be exercised.

Picks are #10 and #13 tonight and I believe future firsts now stand at 2027 (no FRP) 2028 (FRP swap) 2029 (no FRP) 2030 (FRP swap) 2031 (our FRP and Heat FRP) 2032 (our FRP) 2033 (our FRP and Heat FRP). 

No kind of salary cap expert, but I believe they also have a $25.5M trade exception to work with, plus maybe some kind of mid-level / room exception, or potentially just good old fashioned cap space?

Rollins / Herro / Green / KPJ ??? / Jakucionis (guards) Jacquez Jr / Dieng (forwards) Turner / Ware (centers) plus whoever they draft at #10 and #13 tonight gives you at least ten or eleven players with varying combinations of capability and intrigue on the roster next year for Jenkins to work with (barring whatever other moves Horst is working on).
 

[liveforoctober]

I wonder if we can find a trade back partner for one of our top 2 for a later 1st and a future pick or two. OKC has a million picks in the future.... Maybe they want to bump up from 17 and throw us some good fortune.

[jay87shot]

I have routed for Burries at 10 however with Rollins, Jac, maybe KPJ that changes a bit. 

I think a lot rides on if we plan on keeping Turner and/or Herro. If we plan on trading them I would go with high upside players like Lopez, Steinbach, Philon, Burries maybe Ament (not my favorite). If the team plans to keep them I would target guys that help now like Yaxel, Mara, or Carr.

I wouldn't mind trading 10 to OKC for like 12 and 17 maybe throw in some players to save them $. Caruso/Dort 12 and 17 for AJ Green and 10 would be OK with me.

[BrewerFan]

Really don't have a lot of insight into these players. The kid from Houston who just went, I didn't expect him to make it past Dallas, but was hoping. 

I've seen Ament, Burries and Lopez pretty consistently. 

Burries seems like a good fit with Dallas(or Lendeborg). 

[adambr2]

So we enter a rebuild and take the high floor, low ceiling guy at 10?

[BrewerFan]

And it's Burries, but reportedly on his way to the Nets...

 

Lends credence to the idea we're trading Herro to Brooklyn as well. I just don't quite know for what.

[Joseph Zarr]

I absolutely love Brayden Burries. So pleasantly shocked we did something smart. I see enough Arizona games out this way in PST. Burries stood out in every late season contest as the best player on the court. A real NBA level guard.

Plays really good defense too in addition to being extremely smooth amd efficient.

[adambr2]

12 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

And it's Burries, but reportedly on his way to the Nets...

 

Lends credence to the idea we're trading Herro to Brooklyn as well. I just don't quite know for what.

Where are you seeing this about Burries to Brooklyn? I’m not even seeing speculation on it anywhere.

[HarryDoyle]

Why is Miami on the clock? I thought we got that pick from them.

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Why is Miami on the clock? I thought we got that pick from them.

We did, but it can’t be official until July. So whoever we told them to draft gets to walk across the stage and awkwardly put on a Miami Heat hat. 

[BrewerFan]

3 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

Why is Miami on the clock? I thought we got that pick from them.

I think it's just technicalities with the NBA draft. You trade the rights to the player after you draft them. 

[HarryDoyle]

Just now, BrewerFan said:

I think it's just technicalities with the NBA draft. You trade the rights to the player after you draft them. 

So we get no say on who they draft?

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

So we get no say on who they draft?

We are telling them who to draft. We have 100% say.

Think when Dirk Nowitski was a Buck for like 5 minutes.

[rwa12]

We make the pick, it just shows Miami.  Although I’d rather someone else drafted Ament.

[HarryDoyle]

1 minute ago, rwa12 said:

We make the pick, it just shows Miami.  Although I’d rather someone else drafted Ament.

What's the point of that? Seems pretty silly to me.

[adambr2]

1 minute ago, rwa12 said:

We make the pick, it just shows Miami.  Although I’d rather someone else drafted Ament.

I think we did fine tonight. Burries is the safe pick and a really good all-around player and Ament is the ceiling pick.

[rwa12]

6 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

What's the point of that? Seems pretty silly to me.

Trade can’t be made official until July 6.  Happens every year.  Sucks that the kids get a picture in another hat.

 

i think Berries is solid.  Love the pick.  He’s a winner.  I fear Ament will be like our last Tennessee reach (Tobias).  He may figure it out, but likely somewhere else.  I’d have rather had Looez as a project.  Hope to eat crow.