The 2026 NBA Draft features a deep and gifted pool of prospects, but evaluators across the league are grappling with a sobering reality that nobody knows which players will actually be the best. With AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer all done with their freshman seasons, the race for the top pick remains genuinely unsettled. Beyond that trio are high upside players such as Caleb Wilson, Kingston Flemings, Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr.

This runs counter to highly anticipated drafts with a clear No. 1 such as Victor Wembanyama in 2023 and Cooper Flagg in 2025.

"You have high confidence that at least some of them are going to be really, really good. You're not really sure which ones," a Western Conference executive told ESPN. "You don't want to be drafting at 1 and end up with the fifth-best player."

Among scouts and executives surveyed, Dybantsa has emerged as the slight favorite for the top selection, with the lottery next month expected to play a significant role in how teams approach the board.

"I guess you'd rather fail with [AJ] and his upside, than not," a Western Conference general manager said. "I just think that [AJ], because he's 6-9 and he could be like 6-10, 230 [pounds] by the time he's 25 years old, he could just be a monster. I think you've just got to go down swinging with him if you go down."

Peterson retains firm support despite an uneven Kansas freshman campaign that featured both injury absences and stretches of limited involvement alongside undeniable flashes of elite ability.

"I think Peterson is the most talented guy," an Eastern Conference executive said, "but the injury stuff is a real question. That's a valid concern, and it's been a weird year. But he's a huge talent, and he was No. 1 at the start of the season for a reason."

Boozer rounds out the top tier after one of the most statistically impressive freshman seasons in recent college basketball history. The Duke forward is the only player nationally to finish in the top 12 in both scoring (22.5 points per game) and rebounding (10.2), guiding the Blue Devils to within a half-court miracle of the Final Four.

One Western Conference executive compared the class's uncertainty to the 2024 draft headlined by Zaccharie Risacher, but with considerably higher upside across the board.