New NBA Rumors on Caleb Wilson's Landing Spot Revealed as New Mock Draft Drops from Kevin O'Connor

UNC freshman forward Caleb Wilson is regarded as one of the top prospects in the 2026 NBA draft, but one insider made a lofty projection for where he could land.

Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports released his latest mock draft on Wednesday, and he predicted that Wilson would be the No. 2 pick by the Atlanta Hawks, who own the New Orleans Pelicans' first-round selection this year.

While Wilson has long been considered a potential future star in the NBA, he was often projected outside of the top three of this year's draft class behind BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Duke's Cameron Boozer and Kansas' Darryn Peterson. B/R's Jonathan Wasserman predicted in his latest mock draft that Wilson would be selected fourth overall by the Utah Jazz.

However, O'Connor reported that front office executives around the NBA "increasingly believe Wilson could be the second player taken in June's draft." He went on to call Wilson "arguably the most gifted athlete in the draft class" before explaining why his stock is rising.

"Some teams value the high-flying North Carolina freshman above the more ground-bound Cam Boozer from Duke," O'Connor stated. "Others view Wilson as having similarly high upside as Kansas guard Darryn Peterson with dramatically lower downsides due to Peterson's availability concerns."

Wilson's freshman season with the Tar Heels was cut short by a fractured hand suffered in February, but it sounds like NBA teams still view him as one of the potential franchise cornerstones in this year's draft class.