The biggest question heading into the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft cycle is who will be the number one pick. The three players who have distinguished themselves from the pack this season are Duke forward Cameron Boozer, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, and BYU wing AJ Dybantsa, each of whom made but have since been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
Boozer in particular suffered a brutal loss in March Madness, with the Blue Devils choking a late lead against the UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight, and he is now expected to turn his attention to the NBA and declare for the draft.
Some have questioned what kind of role Boozer will play in the NBA considering his unique skillset, and recently, he got a lofty comparison from an NBA scout.
“One East executive compared the conversation around Boozer's draft stock to another highly touted player who won at every level but had athleticism questions coming into the league: Luka Doncic,” reported Jeremy Woo and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“He doesn't look the part athletically, so people put limits on him,” said the scout of Boozer. “I don't know why people keep putting a ceiling on him before he's 19. There's a lot of ways to talk about athleticism, not just how high you can jump, and he always plays the most efficient way he can to help his team win.”
In that specific way, Boozer might indeed be compared to Doncic, in that neither has off-the-charts athleticism for the NBA level. However, in terms of play on the floor, many have compared Boozer more to a Julius Randle archetype, a talented, bruising big man who can create offense through sheer will and punish smaller defenders.
In any case, the NBA Draft is slated to get underway in late June.
