Alternative Fix

The 2026 NBA Draft is almost here, and honestly? This class has scouts, front offices, and basketball Twitter acting a little unhinged in the best way possible. The NBA’s annual two-night chaos festival returns June 23–24, marking the league’s 80th draft anniversary — and for the first time since 2021, all 60 picks are officially back. No forfeited second-round selections. No weird empty gaps in the order. Just pure basketball drama from start to finish. And at the center of it all?

I’m not ready to write off the Andy Reid–Patrick Mahomes Chiefs, even after last season looked like the seams finally started to show. It wasn’t just a slump. It was the kind of unraveling that makes people suddenly very comfortable declaring dynasties finished, as if the whole thing wasn’t built on timing, discomfort, and an almost stubborn refusal to behave like everyone else. But Kansas City has made a habit out of surviving those declarations. The starting point, as always, is Mahomes.

Denver doesn’t really feel like a 14-win team on the outside right now, which is strange when you actually sit with the roster for more than a minute. The buzz is muted, almost suspiciously so—like everyone agreed to talk around them instead of about them. Maybe it’s the quiet offseason. Maybe it’s the fact that nothing flashy happened outside the Jaylen Waddle trade, which landed more like a late-night notification than a league-shaking event. But the silence doesn’t match the substance.

It’s funny how quickly a season can get flattened in hindsight. By the time the Lions’ 2024 campaign came apart late, it started to feel inevitable in the retelling—like they’d been hanging on by tape and good vibes the whole time. But that’s not how it started. They opened 5-2. Clean, confident, and still carrying the momentum of a team that genuinely believed it was building something that would stick. Not a story. Not a phase. Something that would show up in January with teeth.

San Francisco still feels like one of those teams you don’t fully get a clean read on until the season is already halfway gone. The talent is obvious. The coaching is obvious. The question, as always, is whether the roster actually stays intact long enough to matter. The NFC West helps shape the urgency here, and it always does. There’s no easing into this division, no soft landing. The 49ers get at least two shots at the reigning champs, which is its own kind of built-in pressure test.

It’s honestly hard to believe that Cameron Boozer won’t even turn 19 years old until a few weeks after the 2026 NBA Draft. The way he plays, you’d think he was already a seasoned veteran. Boozer continues to show why so many scouts view him as one of the most polished players in this entire draft class. At 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, he already has NBA size, but what really separates him is how advanced his overall game looks for someone this young.

The Los Angeles Clippers have a huge decision to make with the No. 5 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, and this selection could say a lot about where the franchise is headed next. There are several directions they could go. Some mock drafts have linked the Clippers to Darius Acuff Jr., while others believe a massive center such as Aday Mara could make sense after the team moved on from Ivica Zubac. But, Keaton Wagler might be the player who checks the most boxes.

The Chicago Bulls might not even have to overthink things when the 2026 NBA Draft arrives. Assuming the front office stays put and doesn’t make any major trades, the Bulls are sitting in a great position to land one of the elite talents in this draft class. Most analysts see this class as having a clear top-four tier, which means Chicago can simply wait and grab whichever player falls into its lap.

The race for the No. 2 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft is getting more interesting by the day, but when it comes to Darryn Peterson of Kansas, the case for him to go second overall is very easy to understand. There are definitely some exciting storylines tied to this spot in the draft. Utah could make a splash move for BYU star AJ Dybantsa after watching him dominate in the state over the past two seasons.

When it comes to the projected top picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, plenty of names continue to enter the conversation. But, no matter how much debate pops up in mock drafts, one player keeps finding his way right back near the top: AJ Dybantsa of BYU Cougars men’s basketball. There’s a reason for that. Dybantsa simply looks like the kind of player NBA teams spend years trying to find.