NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2026 Draft
The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2026 draft, announcing in a press release (Twitter link) that 71 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 60 are from colleges and 11 had been playing for teams internationally.
While that early entrant total exceeds the number of players who will be selected in this year’s draft (60), it’s down significantly from the figures we’ve seen in recent years. In fact, it’s the lowest since 2003, per Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). A record 353 early entrants initially declared for the draft in 2021, but that number dropped to 283 in 2022, 242 in 2023, 201 in 2024, and 109 a year ago.
The NCAA’s NIL policy, which allows college athletes to be paid based on their name, image, and likeness, has been a major factor in that downward trend — fewer prospects feel the need to go pro as soon as possible when they’re earning big money at the college level.
The huge dip in the past two years can also be attributed in large part to the fact that nearly all college seniors are now automatically draft-eligible. In recent years, most fourth-year seniors faced an “early entrant” decision because they were granted an extra year of NCAA eligibility due to COVID-19 and didn’t have the 2020/21 season count toward their typical limit.
This year’s total of 71 early entrants figures to decline even further by May 27 and again by June 13, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. The former date is for college players who wish to retain their NCAA eligibility, while the latter is for international prospects. The leftover early entrants after June 13 will join the college seniors with no remaining eligibility and other automatically eligible players in this year’s draft pool.
Our tracker of early entrants for the 2026 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.
Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:
Newly added players
College players:
These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.
- Alijah Arenas, G, USC (freshman)
- Jacob Cofie, F, USC (sophomore)
- Cruz Davis, G, Hofstra (junior)
- Kennard Davis, G/F, BYU (junior)
- Gabe Dynes, C, USC (junior)
- Eian Elmer, F, Miami (OH) (junior)
- Colby Garland, G, San Jose State (junior)
- Isiah Harwell, G, Houston (freshman)
- Louis Hutchinson, G/F, Alabama (junior)
- Paulius Murauskas, F, Saint Mary’s (junior)
- Sebastian Rancik, F, Colorado (sophomore)
- Andrej Stojakovic, G/F, Illinois (junior)
International players:
These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.
- Francesco Ferrari, F, Italy (born (2005)
- Marc-Owen Fodzo Dada, G, France (born 2006)
Players removed
Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.
That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.
Because they’re absent from the league’s official list, we’ve removed the following names from our own early entrant list.
Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools. Their 2025/26 school is listed here.
- Dai Dai Ames, G, California (junior)
- Terrence Brown, G, Utah (junior)
- John Mobley Jr., G, Ohio State (sophomore)