2026 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Potential 2026 First-Round Pick Alijah Arenas Could Miss Freshman Season With Knee Injury

July 23rd, 2025 at 9:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

USC’s Alijah Arenas, one of the nation’s top incoming freshmen and a potential first-round pick in the 2026 draft, has suffered a torn meniscus that could sideline him for the entire season, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).

The school announced Wednesday that Arenas will undergo surgery and is projected to miss six to eight months, writes Jeff Borzello of ESPN. A six-month recovery time would have him back in late January, while eight months would push him to the start of the NCAA Tournament.

“Alijah is a tremendous worker, teammate, competitor, and person,” USC coach Eric Musselman said. “He is understandably disappointed that he will not be able to take the court to start the season, but his health is our No. 1 priority. We have no doubt that he will come back even stronger. We look forward to supporting him during this process.”

It’s a brutal setback for Arenas, who was only recently able to resume practicing after recovering from an April car accident that left him hospitalized for a week. According to Borzello, Arenas crashed into a tree after losing control of his Tesla Cybertruck. The vehicle caught on fire, but he was able to escape with help from bystanders after breaking the driver’s side window.

Arenas, the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, was placed in an induced coma because of the amount of smoke he inhaled. Otherwise, he didn’t suffer any significant injuries from the accident.

Arenas was a five-star recruit who reclassified so he could attend college a year early. The 6’6″ shooting guard was 13th on ESPN’s recruiting rankings for this year’s class.

And-Ones: Kokoskov, Luxury Tax Payments, 2026 Mock, Injuries, NBA TV

July 2nd, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Dana Gauruder

Hawks assistant Igor Kokoskov is leaving his position to become head coach of Turkish League team Anadolu Efes, according to Eurohoops.net. Kokoskov has signed a three-year contract.

Kokoskov has been an assistant in the NBA for 19 years, along with a stint as the head coach of the Suns during the 2018/19 season. He was also a head coach in the EuroLeague with Fenerbahce during the 2020/21 season.

Here’s more from around the international basketball world:

How much did NBA teams who stayed below the luxury tax get rewarded for keeping their salaries below the line? Non-tax teams collected $11,530,235 from the taxpaying clubs, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tweets.
Is it too early to talk about the 2026 draft class? Not for draft experts like The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie. He’s posted his first 2026 mock with Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa occupying the top three spots.
Thunder executive Sam Presti believes there’s a direct correlation between the number of games played and injuries. Presti mentioned the NBA’s 65-game rule to qualify for certain awards, the condensed schedule due to the in-season tournament and the recent uptick in physicality allowed by the league, according to an ESPN story.“I think the one thing we have to do is get away from the defensive nature of trying to convince people, players and teams that there’s no connection between the loads and the injuries,” Presti said. “I think it’s — we’re kind of bordering on a level of like, it’s almost insulting.”
TNT Sports will cease production efforts on NBA TV at the end of the league’s calendar year in September, according to the Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp. The league will begin operating the network starting Oct. 1. It will continue to carry some regular-season games during the 2025/26 season, plus WNBA, G League and other games from international leagues. One key element is that there will be far fewer live games on NBA TV once the new media-rights deal kicks in this fall with ESPN/ABC, NBC Sports and Prime Video, Karp adds.

And-Ones: 2025 Draft Grades, 2026 Class, France, Gabriel

June 28th, 2025 at 10:04am CST by Earnest Marshall

Five teams earned ‘A’ grades on Sam Vecenie’s post-draft report card for The Athletic, including four teams who had picks in the top six. The fifth team to earn an A was the Hawks, primarily for landing an unprotected 2026 first-round pick from the Pelicans to drop 10 spots in the middle of the first round.

Another 18 teams earned ‘B-‘ to ‘B+’ grades, meaning they mostly met or exceeded the value expected at their respective draft slots. Multiple clubs who only had second-round picks, like the Cavaliers and Warriors, found themselves in this tier. A few teams who ended up landing players who slid from pre-draft projections also ended up in this group, with the Jazz getting Ace Bailey at No. 5, the Heat landing Kasparas Jakucionis at No. 20 and the Thunder getting Thomas Sorber at No. 15.

That left five teams to earn a mark of ‘C’ or lower from Vecenie (Houston and Denver did not make any selections). The Pelicans were marked down for the haul they gave up to move up from No. 23 to No. 13 and select Derik Queen. The Nets were questioned for making three selections – Egor Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf – with positional overlap, while the Knicks earned a middling grade for selecting a stash player who may not make it to the league.

We have more from around the basketball world:

The 2026 draft looks to be loaded on paper, with a strong blend of returners who would have been drafted this year and high-level incoming talent. In ESPN’s first full 2026 mock draft, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have Darryn Peterson of Kansas as the No. 1 overall pick. A.J. Dybantsa (BYU), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Nate Ament (Tennessee) and Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville) round out their top five. Among returning college players, Jayden Quaintance (No. 6, Kentucky) and Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 14, Michigan) are the highest-ranking.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report‘s top three looks identical to ESPN’s, but he has Arizona’s Koa Peat at No. 4 in his first 2026 mock draft. Another significant difference between the two boards is Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou‘s spot — Wasserman has him at No. 6, but ESPN places him at No. 23.
France has named its 18-man preliminary roster for EuroBasket 2025, per the team (Twitter link). Bilal Coulibaly, Moussa Diabate, Ousmane Dieng, Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Guerschon Yabusele are the current NBA players on the roster. Former NBAers on the team include Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntilikina and Theo Maledon, among others.
Former NBA player Wenyen Gabriel is leaving Panathinaikos to sign with Bayern Munich in Germany, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews. Gabriel played his first EuroLeague season in 2024/25, averaging 6.0 points per game, and will remain in the league by signing with Bayern. The 6’9″ big man played 150 NBA games from 2019-24 across stints with the Lakers, Pelicans, Trail Blazers, Kings and others. He averaged 4.4 PPG and 3.4 RPG for his career.

Pelicans, Pacers Complete Draft-Pick Swap

June 17th, 2025 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

2:23 pm: The trade is official, the Pelicans confirmed in a press release.

12:51 pm: The Pelicans and Pacers have agreed to a trade, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Indiana is sending the No. 23 overall pick in this year’s draft to New Orleans, along with the draft rights to 2023 second-round pick Mojave King.

In exchange, the Pelicans will trade Indiana’s 2026 first-round pick back to the Pacers. That pick, which was originally sent to Toronto with top-four protection as part of the Pascal Siakam blockbuster at the 2024 deadline, was flipped to New Orleans at the 2025 deadline in the Brandon Ingram deal.

The deal will give the Pelicans some extra ammunition in this year’s draft. New Orleans also controls the No. 7 overall pick but previously traded away its second-rounder. The Pelicans will now have an opportunity to add two of the top 23 players from the 2025 draft pool, assuming the front office hangs onto both picks.

King, who was the 47th overall pick in the 2023 draft, has played in the G League, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico in the past two years. Although he’s not considered an elite draft-and-stash prospect, the 6’5″ guard is still just 23 years old, so it’s not out of the question that he’ll sign an NBA contract at some point.

As for the Pacers, the deal accomplishing two things. For one, it will remove a cap hold of roughly $3.24MM from their books for 2025/26, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That will give the team slightly more cap flexibility as it looks to re-sign Myles Turner without going too deep into luxury-tax territory.

Additionally, as Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports tweets, the move will free up more of the Pacers’ future first-rounders for trade purposes. Previously, due to the Stepien rule that prevents teams from leaving themselves without a pick in the first round of consecutive future drafts, the Pacers wouldn’t have been able to offer more than two first-rounders unconditionally in any trade package. Now they could offer up to four (2026, 2028, 2030, and 2032).

While teams typically aren’t permitted to make trades between the in-season trade deadline and the end of their season, the Pacers can make this deal while they remain alive in the NBA Finals because it doesn’t involve any players on their 15-man roster.

International Notes: Bogdanovic, EuroLeague, Asia, Sarr

May 23rd, 2025 at 3:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The No. 27 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Bogdan Bogdanovic spent three more seasons playing in Europe before making the move stateside in 2017. The veteran swingman has been in the NBA since then, but told reporters at the EuroLeague Final Four this week that he could see himself playing overseas again before his career is over.

“I had that goal when I was leaving (for the NBA), but I’ll see how my health is later in my career,” Bogdanovic said, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. “I want to come back, of course, but I have to stay healthy. … I miss it because I’m closer to my friends and family (in Europe). That’s what I miss most. Competition as well, but friends and family first, honestly.”

Bogdanovic, who finished the 2024/25 season with the Clippers following a midseason trade from Atlanta to Los Angeles, added that he’s looking forward to representing Serbia in EuroBasket 2025 and is “optimistic” that Nuggets star Nikola Jokic will participate in the tournament.

“I feel like we have a good opportunity (to win the gold). We can’t hide,” Bogdanovic said, according to Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. “That’s it. We’re going for gold. All those years we’re building something. It’s progress. A process. Hopefully, we’ll stay healthy and we show up healthy and ready to go.”

Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:

The EuroLeague is expected to expand from 18 to 20 teams beginning next season, according to reports from Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews and Alessandro Maggi of Sportando (Twitter link). Hapoel Tel Aviv, Dubai BC, and Valencia are the favorites to join the league next season, with ALBA Berlin exiting, according to Urbonas. In addition to working on expansion, EuroLeague officials are expected to meet with the NBA and FIBA next week about the NBA’s own European league.
What exactly is the Asian University Basketball League? Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com takes a closer look at the college basketball organization launching this summer in Asia and speaks to AUBL CEO Jay Li about his goal of finding and developing the next NBA star from the continent. “We are not just an Asian basketball league,” Li said. “We could be the centerpiece of youth talent development for the entire world when it comes to developing Asia’s next Yao Ming, Asia’s next Jeremy Lin.”
Dame Sarr, a 6’8″ wing from Italy, has committed to Duke for the 2025/26 season, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Sarr, who has spent the past two seasons playing for Barcelona in Spain, had a big game at last month’s Nike Hoop Summit, establishing himself as a potential 2026 first-round pick to watch. “My ultimate goal is to play in the NBA,” Sarr told ESPN. “There’s no better place to prepare you for that than Duke. For me to be as NBA-ready as possible, and become the best version of myself, I needed to have both experiences — playing for a pro team like Barcelona, and playing in a different type of professional environment like Duke against other players my age. Opportunity, minutes, repetition — this route is the best next step for me at this time.”

Alijah Arenas Making ‘Significant Progress’ After Car Crash

April 25th, 2025 at 11:31am CST by Rory Maher

Five-star prospect Alijah Arenas was involved in a serious car accident early Thursday morning and had to be placed in a medically-induced coma.

According to Arenas’ family (Twitter link via Shams Charania of ESPN), the 18-year-old is no longer in a coma and “has shown significant signs of progress within the last 24 hours.” While Arenas remains intubated, the fact that he was able to come out of the coma was a “critical step forward in his recovery.”

Arenas was reportedly the driver and lone person involved in the crash. After hitting a fire hydrant and tree, the vehicle he was driving caught on fire, and nearby bystanders helped rescue him from the accident, per the statement.

A 6’6″ shooting guard who has committed to playing his freshman season at USC, Arenas was No. 13 on ESPN’s recruiting rankings for the 2025 class, making him a possible first-round pick in 2026. He is the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas.

Our best wishes go out to Arenas as well his family and friends as he continues to recover.

Thomas Haugh Returning To Florida For Junior Season

April 25th, 2025 at 10:56am CST by Rory Maher

Florida forward Thomas Haugh has decided not to declare for the 2025 NBA draft and will instead return to the Gators for his junior season, he told Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link).

Haugh helped the Gators win an NCAA championship in 2024/25, averaging 9.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 40 appearances (24.4 minutes per game). He posted a .485/.340/.794 shooting line as Florida’s top reserve.

While the 21-year-old was considered a potential second-round pick in 2025, ranking 62nd on ESPN’s latest big board (subscriber link), Givony says Haugh will enter ’25/26 as a projected first-rounder in 2026.

And-Ones: A. Arenas, 2025 Draft, X. Lee, Kidd

April 24th, 2025 at 3:08pm CST by Rory Maher

Alijah Arenas, a five-star prospect who has committed to play his freshman season at USC, has been placed in a medically-induced coma following a serious car accident early Thursday morning, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN.

As Charania details, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call of fire at 4:55 a.m. local time after a Tesla Cybertruck crashed into a fire hydrant and tree. The LAFD did not identify Arenas by name, but Charania confirms he was involved and taken to a local hospital in serious condition. Initial tests indicated Arenas did not suffer any broken bones, Charania adds.

Arenas, a 6’6″ shooting guard, is No. 13 on ESPN’s recruiting rankings for the 2025 class, making him a potential first-round pick next year. The 18-year-old is the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link) have updated their list of the top 100 prospects ahead of the 2025 NBA draft. While many of the top 25 prospects remain unchanged, some have moved around a few spots. For instance, Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears is up to No. 5 from No. 7. Givony writes that the 18-year-old has generated “significant buzz” from the NBA scouts and executives he and Woo have spoken to in recent weeks.
Former Princeton guard Xaivian Lee is withdrawing from the 2025 draft and will transfer to Florida for his senior season in 2025/26, agent George S. Langberg tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Lee was named first-team All-Ivy League each of the past two season for the Tigers and is now focused on helping the Gators defend their national championship.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has become a minority stakeholder in English Premier League club Everton, per The Dallas Morning News. “I’m honored to be joining Everton’s ownership at such an important moment: with a new stadium on the horizon and a bright future ahead, it’s a great moment to come on board,” Kidd said in the release.

Draft Notes: Portsmouth, Ament, Avdalas, Early Entrants

April 22nd, 2025 at 9:29am CST by Luke Adams

Describing the event as a “springboard for under-the-radar grinders,” Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype shares some takeaways and identifies several standout prospects from this year’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which took place from April 16-19 in Portsmouth, VA.

East Carolina guard RJ Felton – the cousin of former NBA guard Raymond Felton – was among those standouts, showing off deep shooting range, play-making, and a high-energy style at the PIT, according to Asseo de Choch. Texas center Kadin Shedrick, Arkansas big man Jonas Aidoo, Belmont forward Jonathan Pierre, and Butler wing Jahmyl Telfort are among the other prospects who had strong showings in Portsmouth.

Here are a few more draft-related notes:

Nate Ament, an 18-year-old forward who projects to be one of the top prospects in the NBA’s 2026 draft class, has committed to Tennessee for the 2025/26 season, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). “Coach (Rick) Barnes sees me as a one-and-done type player,” Ament said. “He has done it before with Kevin Durant. He sees me as that kind of guy.” Ament came in at No. 4 when ESPN published its first 2026 mock draft earlier this year.
Greek wing Neoklis Avdalas will test the 2025 NBA draft waters while maintaining his NCAA eligibility, agent Alex Saratsis tells Givony (Twitter link). Avdalas isn’t on ESPN’s list of top 100 prospects for 2025, but he’s been having a strong season for Peristeri in Greece’s domestic league, Givony notes, adding that the 19-year-old projects as an impact freshman if he decides to withdraw from the draft and play college ball next season.
Arkansas freshman Karter Knox and Florida sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu are among the other early entrants who have recently declared for the draft without giving up their remaining college eligibility, having made their announcements on Instagram. They’re on our running list of 2025 early entrants, which we published on Monday and will continue to update.

Draft Notes: Quaintance, Martinelli, Hubbard, Mock Draft

April 2nd, 2025 at 11:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Arizona State freshman forward Jayden Quaintance underwent knee surgery on March 19 for a tear in his right ACL, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Quaintance, who is seen as a potential top-five prospect in the 2026 draft, is also entering the NCAA transfer portal to seek out his next collegiate opportunity, according to Givony.

“He’s already ahead of schedule, the doctor says, and should be cleared for contact in September,” his father Haminn Quaintance said.

With the 2025/26 season slated to tip off in November, that recovery timeline sounds optimal.

“I’m planning on coming back better than last year,” the younger Quaintance told ESPN. “I’m already attacking my rehab aggressively.”

A Big 12 All-Freshman and All-Defensive teamer, Quaintance logged averages of 9.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game in his debut college season. Quaintance, born in 2007, graduated high school a year early, so he is not eligible to declare for the NBA until next year’s draft. He was the youngest player in college basketball this season, Givony notes.

There’s more from the upcoming draft:

Northwestern swingman Nick Martinelli, the leading scorer in the Big Ten this season, is testing the draft waters while retaining his college eligibility, per Givony (Twitter link). The 6’7″ forward, who averaged 20.5 PPG in 2024/25 for the Wildcats, would remain at Northwestern – rather than transferring – were he to return to the NCAA. Martinelli was not among the top 100 prospects on Givony’s latest 2025 pre-draft big board.
Two-time All-SEC Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard will declare for the 2025 draft, but plans to preserve his collegiate eligibility, the 5’10” NBA hopeful informed Joe Tipton of On3 Sports (via Twitter). Hubbard is also not among Givony’s top 100. In 34 contests this season, the sophomore registered averages of 18.9 PPG, 3.1 APG and 2.1 RPG. He posted shooting splits of .402/.345/.878.
In his latest 2025 mock draft, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report highlights the upside of three intriguing prospects out of Florida and speculates about the appeal of two potential picks out of Auburn, big man Johni Broome and guard Tahaad Pettiford.