2026 NBA Mock Draft: ESPN reveals five players to watch in the coming season

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony released a Top 10 mock and a Top 60 Big Board for a very early look at the 2026 NBA Draft on Friday. From there, though, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo named five more players specifically to keep an eye on before next year’s draft in June.

Givony released this preview of next summer’s draft this morning, which included these top returning prospects to watch for Woo who were all projected by him as Top 20 picks in the first round in 2026. Three of them are transfers at new programs, who make up three of the top-four names per On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, while two are sophomores returning to their respective schools in the NCAA. Two apiece are then in the SEC and Big Ten, while there’s one from the ACC.

Here are the top five returning college players who are to be top prospects for 2026, per Woo:

Kentucky F/C Jayden Quaintance

Quaintance, one of the youngest players last year in college basketball after reclassifying, averaged 9.4 points (52.5% FG), 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 steals for Arizona State as a member of the All-Big 12 Freshman and Defensive Teams. Now, transferring to Kentucky as the No. 4 player in the portal this offseason, the NBA is keeping more tabs on him now that he’ll be fully eligible for the draft next summer, being the No. 6 overall pick next year for Givony.

Woo noted the size and defensive ability for Quaintance, writing of “his excellent physical profile and flashes of talent as a dunker and interior finisher” with his age making up for him being “quite raw from a skill perspective…(with) a lot to learn with his overall technique”. However, while his development continues, what’ll be most important for Quaintance is his recovery, going into the preseason and next season, from his ACL surgery in April.

Michigan F Yaxel Lendeborg

Lendeborg could’ve remained in the 2025 NBA Draft coming off of a pair of seasons with the UAB Blazers where he averaged 15.8 points (51.8% FG, 34.9% 3PT), 11 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.2 steals as a two-time selection as All-AAC First Team and AAC Defensive Player of the Year. Instead, the No. 1 transfer in the portal withdrew his name will end up in maize & blue by playing next season with the Wolverines.

Michigan replaced last year’s big-time frontcourt with some new names for it, namely Lendeborg. He should, as “a late-blooming prospect with a mix of offensive skill, defensive playmaking and excellent length,” writes Woo, should make the most of that opportunity in Ann Arbor into being a projected lottery pick at No. 14 per Givony.

Iowa PG Bennett Stirtz

Stirtz didn’t even test for this year’s draft despite building interest coming off of his lone season at Drake where he averaged 19.2 points (49.8% FG, 39.5% 3PT on 1.8 makes), 5.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per game as MVC Player of the Year. Instead, he transferred following his head coach to Iowa as the No. 2 player in the portal.

Stirtz made the transition from Division II, playing two seasons prior at Northwest Missouri State, to Division I well. He’ll now look to make another from a mid-major to a power conference as Woo expects him “to be among the top guards in the country”, with Givony having him taken at No. 15.

Duke G/F Isaiah Evans

Of the six commitments in the No. 1 recruiting class for the Blue Devils in ’24, Evans was in the half that didn’t play necessarily as much of a role this past season in their run to the Final Four, averaging 6.8 points per game (43.2% FG, 41.6% 3PT on 1.7 makes). However, with five draft picks officially leaving the past two days, Evans, a former Top 15, four-star recruit himself, is going to step into much more opportunity as a sophomore in Durham.

That chance will allow Evans to show off even more of his shot-making as “a perimeter sharpshooter” with that ability of his being “a legit NBA calling card,” writes Woo. That said, Woo also added his overall game will need further development, most notably in decision-making and defensively, if he wants to end up as a first-rounder, with Givony having him going at No. 16.

Auburn G Tahaad Pettiford

Pettiford was one of the best guards, as a freshman and reserve off the bench, last season for the Tigers, averaging 11.6 points (42.1% FG, 36.6% 3PT on 1.8 makes), 3.0 assists, and 2.2 rebounds on their way to the best season in school history in making the Final Four. Now, after withdrawing his name after testing for this year’s draft, Pettiford is back, as the lone player back from that lineup, and already at work again on The Plains.

Pettiford, as an undersized scoring guard, has your usual pros and cons with the positives being “scoring ability and explosiveness” while the negatives currently are “playmaking and improving) defensively,” writes Woo. Adding to his game in all of those areas in his bigger role this season at Auburn will better determine his floor and ceiling, whether a bench spark or starting-level guard, as a pro, with Givony currently having him going at No. 20 overall in 2026.