Who Should the Nets Target in 2026—And Can They Land Him?

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The Brooklyn Nets came away from the 2025 NBA Draft with five players that have a wide range of outcomes for each of their ceilings based on their draft profile. Brooklyn still has to find out if any of the players they drafted in 2025 will be difference-makers for the team, but the 2026 NBA Draft could be their last chance to get a star-level prospect.

“The most forward-thinking of those executives are already ringing alarm bells in their front offices for the 2027 NBA draft, which appears to be an especially weak group of rising high school seniors and international players born in 2007 and 2008,” ESPN’s Jonathan Givony wrote when discussing the 2026 and 2027 classes. It seems that many front office members believe that the 2027 class will be devoid of future stars that 2026 is chock full of.

“This development could also have major implications on how aggressive NBA teams decide to be in dangling 2027 first-round picks while potentially repressing the appetite for teams considering tanking their way to a high draft pick,” Givony continued. “It also puts significant pressure on rebuilding teams to ensure they are in position to land in the talent-rich top five of the 2026 draft, which features five All-Star or franchise-caliber prospects: high-schoolers Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, Cam Boozer, Nate Ament and Mikel Brown.”

The Nets committed to a full-scale rebuild last summer when they traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks in exchange for multiple first-round picks, two of which Brooklyn used to select guards Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf. After the conclusion of the 2025 NBA Draft, many in the NBA space wondered if they selected a player that has a chance of being the best player for the franchise one day.

At the same time, Brooklyn has plenty of first-round picks to use over the next few years, but none might be more important than their pick next year when they could take any of the aforementioned five players. Even if at least one of the players from the 2025 class becomes an impact player, the Nets might want to ensure that they end up with a top-5 pick so they could potentially draft their next star-level player.