Who Is No. 1 Prospect on Top 100 NBA Draft 2026 Big Board Rankings by ESPN?

The 2026 NBA draft is loaded with potential franchise-altering prospects, which gives teams that are outside of the playoff picture something to look forward to heading into the stretch run of the season.

On Thursday, ESPN's Jeremy Woo shared the publication's latest big board rankings that is dominated by "one of the most talented college freshman classes in recent memory."

In fact, the top nine prospects are all college freshmen with Kansas' Darryn Peterson leading the way.

Here is a look at the top 10:

1. Darryn Peterson, PG/SG, Kansas
2. AJ Dybantsa, SF, BYU
3. Cameron Boozer, PF/C, Duke
4. Caleb Wilson, PF/C, North Carolina
5. Kingston Flemings, PG, Houston
6. Keaton Wagler, PG/SG, Illinois
7. Nate Ament, SF/PF, Tennessee
8. Darius Acuff Jr., PG, Arkansas
9. Mikel Brown Jr., PG, Louisville
10. Karim Lopez, SF/PF, New Zealand Breakers

Dybantsa, Boozer and other top prospects still have time to make up ground on Peterson, but the Kansas guard appears to be in the driver's seat at this point.

After all, B/R's Jonathan Wasserman also projected the star freshman as the No. 1 pick in his most recent mock draft.

"There's talk about Peterson being the most complete scoring guard prospect of the modern era," Wasserman wrote. "And as long as his pre-draft medicals check out clean, he'll remain the favorite for most teams at No. 1."

MEAN Darryn Peterson Poster 😨

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The only question at this point seems to be about his availability and overall durability, as he missed Monday's highly-anticipated showdown with Arizona because of flu-like symptoms.

It was the latest setback for Peterson, who has been sidelined for 11 of the Jayhawks' 24 games to this point due to hamstring tightness, cramping, a quad problem and illness.

Still, it hasn't impacted his draft stock based on the latest from ESPN and Wasserman. It also hasn't impacted his production, as he is averaging 20.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from deep.

He also shined in a head-to-head win over Dybantsa on Jan. 31 with 18 points in just 20 minutes and, at least for now, remains atop the 2026 NBA draft board with March Madness approaching.