NBA Execs Sound Off on AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson's Draft Stock

With the top four projected picks in the 2026 NBA draft all eliminated from the NCAA tournament before the Final Four, NBA scouts and executives are still parsing through the data and information from the college season to determine the order in which they will come off the board.

Per ESPN's Jeremy Woo and Tim Bontemps, the feeling among NBA talent evaluators is AJ Dybantsa emerged from the season as the favorite to be the No. 1 pick ahead of Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson.

One Western Conference general manager laid out the case for Dybantsa by describing him as the prospect with the type of upside "you'd rather fail with" compared to the others:

"And I know Peterson has upside, maybe Boozer's upside is a little bit less. ... 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."

One Eastern Conference executive told Woo and Bontemps that Peterson is "the most talented" player in the group, but his injury issues are "a valid concern" when evaluating him.

That sentiment was echoed by a Eastern Conference scout: "It's definitely a thingIf you're a team that's in the mix for the No. 1 or 2 pick, you're going to have to get a ton of information on what happened, and why."

Peterson missed 11 of Kansas' 35 games this season due to hamstring and ankle injuries. He also dealt with cramping issues at times that limited his availability.

Boozer is not regarded as the same level of athlete as Dybantsa or Peterson, but he had arguably the most consistent season from start to finish of the three.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman projected Dybantsa to be the No. 1 pick in his most recent mock draft, but he noted both Peterson and Boozer will stay in the conversation throughout the pre-draft process.

There has also been some thought that the Indiana Pacers prefer Boozer if they win the lottery, particularly because he would slot in with their current frontcourt mix with Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac.

One Eastern Conference executive praised Boozer as being someone who could be the same type of catalyst for an offense as Domantas Sabonis or Alperen Şengün:

"I think people have gone numb to him and the production and the archetype. The versatility he brings offensively is 1-of-1 in this class. I understand the problems: the finishing, lack of rim protection, heavy legs. But he is an offensive catalyst to me—[think Domantas] Sabonis, [Alperen] Sengun, any of the others who have been knocked for athleticism. IQ and feel have overcome so much. I think he has answered every question he can."

Wilson is another player with injury concerns coming out of this season, including a broken thumb in his right hand and a fractured bone in his left hand.

That doesn't seem like a huge obstacle for people in the NBA, with Woo and Bontemps quoting one East executive as comparing Wilson to Jalen Johnson when he came out of Duke in 2021:

"Caleb has been more productive and played harder in college than [Atlanta Hawks All-Star] Jalen Johnson, who in college was more perimeter oriented," an East executive said. "If you thought Cam [Boozer] is Al Horford or something like that, and you thought Caleb was like Jalen, then you could go Caleb."

Wilson has always seemed like he was running fourth among the big four prospects in the 2026 class. That hasn't changed throughout the season, but it speaks to the level of talent at the top a team could win the fourth pick in the lottery and potentially get an All-Star forward.

There remains a lot to be sorted out before the first round of the draft begins on June 24. The next big event on the schedule is the scouting combine in Chicago from May 10-17.