2026 NBA Draft winners and losers: Mavericks fail to help Cooper Flagg with low-upside Morez Johnson Jr. pick
Dallas curiously used the No. 9 pick on Michigan product Morez Johnson Jr., days after hiring Dusty May, his former coach
The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft came and went on Tuesday night, and there weren't many surprises. Chalk ruled the night as what is being heralded as one of the deepest and most talented drafts in recent memory went almost exactly according to script.
Still, it went better for some than others. Let's take a look at our big winners and losers from Tuesday night.
Winner: AJ Dybantsa
This has long been touted as a potential all-time draft class, and the debate of whether AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson should go No. 1 has been raging for well over a year. In the end, the Washington Wizards selected Dybantsa, who is now the highest-drafted player in BYU history, besting Shawn Bradley (No. 2 in 1993).
The 6-foot-9 Dybantsa is the type of do-it-all wing that teams across the league are always desperate to find. In his lone collegiate season, he averaged 25.5 points per game on 51/33.1/77.4 shooting splits, 6.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals. He led the NCAA in scoring, was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and was a consensus First Team All-American.
Now, Dybantsa has become the latest No. 1 overall pick, joining a rare club that includes some of the best players in NBA history while fulfilling a longtime goal.
"Being the No. 1 pick was -- it's meant a lot to me," Dybantsa said. "Obviously, me being No. 1 throughout all my high school career, I definitely wanted to be a staple to be No. 1 in the NBA Draft and be in the same conversation with LeBron James and Cooper Flagg, Allen Iverson and guys like that."
In Washington, Dybantsa will team up with Anthony Davis and Trae Young, along with an array of recent lottery picks, including Alex Sarr and Tre Johnson. Say what you will about Davis and Young, who have their faults, but few No. 1 picks get to show up and immediately play with multiple All-Stars. Those two will take some of the immediate pressure off Dybantsa and allow him to ease his way into the league.
Additionally, Dybantsa is going to a franchise desperate for success. The Wizards haven't even won 20 games in a season since 2023, haven't made the playoffs since 2021, haven't won a playoff series since 2017, haven't been to the Eastern Conference Finals (or Finals) since 1979 and haven't won a title since 1978.
If Dybantsa can change the Wizards' trajectory, he will be a beloved figure in D.C. -- Jack Maloney
Loser: Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks stunned the NBA world earlier this week when they hired Dusty May away from Michigan to be their new coach. Everyone expected them to then select one of May's former Wolverines with the No. 9 overall pick, but Morez Johnson Jr. was not the name most expected to hear above Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara.
The 6-foot-9 Johnson averaged 13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks on 62.3% shooting last season as he helped the Wolverines win their first national championship since 1989. He's a big, physical forward and was named to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, but was not projected to be a top 10 pick. In fact, he was ranked 17th on CBS Sports' final prospect rankings.
Additionally, CBS Sports' Adam Finkelstein gave the pick a C+, which was his lowest grade for any lottery selection. Here's his instant analysis of the pick:
New Mavs coach Dusty May brings in a Michigan player to Dallas. Morez Johnson was one of the biggest winners of the combine, measuring bigger than expected with massive length, well-rounded athleticism, and simultaneously reaffirming the shooting gains we saw this year. Johnson is long and powerful with an NBA-ready body and rugged physicality to match. He is a two-way rebounder and a versatile defender who can not only guard ball-screens in multiple ways but also be switchable inside-and-out.
Johnson is not a creator and doesn't project as being more than a complementary piece offensively. Shooting is also still largely unproven with a total of 12 3-pointers in two college basketball seasons. He can provide some secondary rim protection, but doesn't project as a primary shot-blocker at the NBA level. Grade: C+
New Mavs coach Dusty May brings in a Michigan player to Dallas. Morez Johnson was one of the biggest winners of the combine, measuring bigger than expected with massive length, well-rounded athleticism, and simultaneously reaffirming the shooting gains we saw this year. Johnson is long and powerful with an NBA-ready body and rugged physicality to match. He is a two-way rebounder and a versatile defender who can not only guard ball-screens in multiple ways but also be switchable inside-and-out.
Johnson is not a creator and doesn't project as being more than a complementary piece offensively. Shooting is also still largely unproven with a total of 12 3-pointers in two college basketball seasons. He can provide some secondary rim protection, but doesn't project as a primary shot-blocker at the NBA level. Grade: C+
Johnson could certainly wind up being a good player, and his familiarity with May will help his transition to the pros, but he doesn't have the upside you'd hope to get from a top-10 pick, and the Mavericks still need a lot of help around 2026 Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg. -- Maloney
Winner: Keaton Wagler
Coming out of high school in Kansas, Keaton Wagler was ranked as the 150th-best player in the country by 247Sports. Now, less than two years later, Wagler was selected No. 5 overall by the Los Angeles Clippers after a brilliant freshman season at Illinois.
"I think it's just all the hard work that I put in," Wagler said during his interview on the draft broadcast. "Not worried about what anyone else said, just staying true to myself and not worrying about the rankings or anything like that, just continuing to work hard and prove myself to show that I can play at this level."
The 6-foot-6 Wagler averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists and shot 39.7% on 5.9 3-point attempts while leading Illinois to the Final Four for the first time since 2005. He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a consensus Second-Team All-American.
The last few years have been an incredible journey for Wagler, who, per The Athletic, is now the highest NBA Draft pick ever among U.S.-born one-and-done freshmen who ranked outside the top 100 of the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which dates back to 1998. As he steps up to the next level, Wagler said he'll carry the same chip on his shoulder that has helped him prove everyone wrong thus far.
"It's something that I can't change my mindset with," Wagler said. "Gotta continue to prove myself to show everyone that I belong here and can be one of the best players in the league." -- Maloney
Winner: Memphis Grizzlies
Last month, Jonathan Givony of Draft Express said Cameron Boozer would average 20 and 10 and challenge for an All-Star spot as a rookie, and he and many others have consistently said that Boozer would be the clear No. 1 pick in a lot of drafts. The Grizzlies got him at No. 3 on Tuesday night because this draft had at least four players with No. 1 overall talent. That's a major win.
The Grizzlies got a little busy later in the draft, too. First, they traded the No. 16 pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for No. 17 and two second-round picks, then subsequently sent No. 17 to the Detroit Pistons for No. 21 and three more second-round picks.
With that 21st pick, they ultimately selected Karim Lopez, a big man who is described as a "lottery-level talent" in our draft grades. On top of it all, the Grizzlies added five second-round picks by way of the trades. A good night of work in Memphis. -- Brad Botkin
Loser: Non-college players
The Grizzlies' selection of Lopez, a big man from Mexico who spent last season playing for the New Zealand Breakers, a team in the NBL, Australia's top pro league. Lopez was the first player who didn't play college basketball last season to be selected on Tuesday, marking the longest wait for a non-college player since 1994, when the Boston Celtics selected Andrei Fetisov at No. 36.
Here's a look at when the first non-college player was selected in the last 10 drafts:
2026
Karim Lopez
No. 21
2025
No. 12
2024
No. 1
2023
No. 1
2022
No. 8
2021
No. 2
2020
No. 3
2019
No. 15
2018
No. 3
2017
No. 8
This was a weak class for non-college players. In CBS Sports' final prospect rankings, Lopez and Spanish guard Sergio de Larrea, who went 25th, were the only non-college players in the top 50. Furthermore, more international players are coming over to play college basketball now that they can make money in the process. German big man Hannes Steinbach, who went 14th to the Charlotte Hornets, is a good example of that. Rather than go right to the NBA, he cashed in by playing one season at Washington, boosting his draft stock in the process. -- Maloney
Winner: Golden State Warriors
Fans that were hoping for a big-splash trade on draft night might not like hearing this, but the Warriors appear to have landed a stud at No. 11 in Yaxel Lendeborg. Unlike the James Wiseman or Jonathan Kuminga project picks this front office has whiffed on, Lendeborg is a seasoned 23-year-old who is polished, tough on both sides of the ball and ready to contribute right away.
That's good news for a Warriors team that still intends to take one last run at contention before the Stephen Curry era finally fades to black. They can still make a big move. LeBron James could decide to sign as a free agent. Kawhi Leonard is a trade possibility. We know they're in the hunt for Trey Murphy III. Who knows what else is cooking behind the scenes?
However it works out, Lendeborg projects as a core piece in both the short and long term. And from Lendeborg's perspective, while coach Steve Kerr isn't known for being the most trusting coach when it comes to young players, who wouldn't be excited to start their NBA career playing alongside Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green on a team that could be playing deep into the playoffs if all goes right? -- Botkin
Loser: Darius Acuff Jr.
Look, getting drafted into the NBA is awesome, no matter where you land. That said, to be a top player and end up with the Sacramento Kings is a tough beat. The Kings are rudderless and mostly have been for years. Acuff is a big-time scorer but has been widely panned for his defense, and now he goes to an organization with zero defensive cover or culture.
It just seems like a situation suited to expose the worst of Acuff Jr., who, if he's not careful, could end up with the dreaded early career label of a "good stats, bad team" guy who can't defend. It doesn't have to go that way. Maybe he'll be the engine that gets the Kings going in a different direction. But as NBA journeys go, he's starting out on an uphill climb. At the end of the day, where you get drafted matters. It's unfortunate, but it does. Opportunities are not created equal in the world of professional sports. -- Botkin
Winner: Utah Jazz
Take away Darryn Peterson's availability concerns, and a lot of smart analysts had him as the most talented player in this draft. Some went as far as to say it's not even particularly close between Peterson and Dybantsa. Time will tell. But on potential alone, which is all anyone can go off at this point, the Utah Jazz just scored a future superstar candidate with the second pick, who can take over the lead guard position of a team that could be set for a huge boom.
They traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. They have Lauri Markkanen. If they can bring back Walker Kessler, you are talking about a gigantic and incredibly complementary two-way front line with elite rim protection and spacing. Now add Peterson and Keyonte George as what could, in pretty short order, develop into one of the league's most electric scoring backcourts, and you've got something serious brewing in Utah. -- Botkin
Winner: Milwaukee Bucks
This is relative, of course. They just lost Giannis Antetokounmpo for a Miami Heat package that, until further notice, does not appear to be as inspiring as the one the Bucks likely could've landed had they decided to make the trade earlier and thus operated from a position of strength.
But they didn't do that, and the past is the past. All they can do now is hope to make the most of the assets that they do have moving forward, and it would appear that they got that mission off to a good start on Tuesday night when they drafted Brayden Burries with the 10th overall pick (their own) and Nate Ament with the 13th pick (from Miami).
Burries wasn't expected to still be on the board at 10, but Dallas' reach for Morez Johnson Jr. at No. 9 dropped Burries into Milwaukee's lap. Then they got Ament, a silky 6-foot-10 scorer with at least the physical profile of Kevin Durant (no, we're not suggesting he's going to be Durant, but he can get his high-release shot off over anyone and has great positional size). CBS Sports' Avery Johnson believes that when we look back at this draft five years from now, Ament could look like a guy who should've gone in the top five. -- Botkin
Loser: Chaos agents
If you were one of those people tuning into the draft to see a bunch of trades or surprise picks or preferably some of both, this was not the night for you.
The lottery was chalk. No real surprises. Jaylen Brown is still on the Celtics. Trey Murphy III is still in New Orleans. The Warriors took Lendeborg at No. 11 instead of packaging that pick into a trade. Nobody rose or fell in a meaningful way. Adam Silver just stepped up to the podium and announced the expected names at the expected times before families sat down on a couch and did the dream-come-true interview.
Yeah, there were a few trades at the end of the first round that resulted in some pick exchanges, but nothing that really moved the needle on a national-interest level. All in all, pretty boring stuff. -- Botkin
Winner: Trae Young
Quite a couple of days it's been for Young. First, the Wizards wildly overpaid him with a $212 million extension on Monday, and then on Tuesday, they drafted Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick instead of Peterson.
Had they selected Peterson, there would obviously have been more of a positional overlap with Young, and the pressure would be on to lean toward developing the rookie. Now Young can sit back and be what he's proven best suited to be: the point guard of a middling team with nothing more than play-in aspirations that is now actually incentivized by the new lottery structure to finish with anywhere from the fourth- to 10th-worst record.
And he can do that while pulling in nearly a quarter billion bucks, which will take his career earnings to nearly $400 million despite a mostly disappointing tenure in Atlanta and probably more lottery-level seasons expected in Washington. That's good work if you can get it. -- Botkin
Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder
There were rumblings that OKC might be willing to trade up to get Aday Mara, but it turned out they didn't have to; they still got their guy at No. 12. In Mara, the Thunder get a 7-foot-3 monster rim protector with plenty of offensive fluidity for his size.
The Thunder made this pick with one guy in mind: Victor Wembanyama. They just watched Chet Holmgren get dominated in the Western Conference Finals, and Mara becomes another huge earthling to throw at the alien in San Antonio. This could free up OKC to let go of Isaiah Hartenstein, or they could opt to keep these three bigs together in preparation for many future paint wars with the Spurs.
There are, to be fair, some questions about OKC's selection of Bennett Stirtz at No. 16, a guy who started out as a D-II player before rising to prominence as the primary creator in a slow Iowa offense, over a flame-throwing shooter like Texas Tech's Christian Anderson. But Stirtz can throw some flames, too, and it's not like Oklahoma City needs a starting point guard. Mara is the big win here as the rich keep getting richer in Oklahoma City. -- Botkin
2026 NBA Draft winners and losers: Mavs make perplexing pick at No. 9
Jack Maloney 13 min read2026 NBA Draft winners and losers: Mavs make perplexing pick at No. 9
