2026 NBA Draft starts Tue 5:00pm PT; Round 2 Wed 5:00pm
The most suspenseful GSW draft day in years
Here are the Draft Tournaments and Live Draft Day threads since 2020.
Before the draft
To know which player you hope will fall to GSW, check out the Apricot’s 2026 Draft Tournament. That lists 15 players most likely to be drafted by GSW at #11, along with 13 players potentially draftable at #54.
Not too late to say I TOLD YOU SO
DNHQ long timer void has kindly offered up a chance for you to register your Big Board for the Top 30 prospects. I’ve asked him if he can add a stripped down version with just the players in the tour
This is completely optional of course.
However, if you plan to brag about your wisdom in the future, it is not optional to record your draft preferences SOMEWHERE. So, why not record it at void’s site?
An honest thinker puts their forecasts down in writing, since everyone in the future can just cherry pick and say “oh yeah, look how smart I am, I had X over Y” which every braggart does.
Also, we forget over time what our ranking was and it’s good to remember your bad takes as well as the good.
How to watch the First Round
The first round will be held at Tuesday, June 23 (5 PT, ABC & ESPN)*
The second round will be on Wednesday, June 24 (5 PT, ESPN)*
*Fans outside of the US & Canada can stream both rounds on League Pass
It’s honestly a bit old-fashioned to (only) watch this on TV. If you want to be 5-10 minutes ahead of the televised draft, follow this comment section.
So, if you don’t want spoilers, turn off Bluesky and all social media, and avoid this comment section. Everyone is encouraged to post news here as soon as you have it from a reputable source.
As for when the actual picks start, history has the picks beginning about 10-15 minutes from the TV start time.
Each team has 5 minutes to choose for the 30 first round picks. The time of the official pick announcement sometimes seems to be longer than that.
In theory, the NBA made the Second Round a second day not just for ratings, but because teams requested more time to reflect on the first round and try to pull off deals.
In the same vein, second round picks will now have 4 minutes on the clock each (up from 2 minutes a couple of years ago).
The Warriors will have the #11 and #54 picks.
That means the #11 pick is estimated to be 55 minutes after start time, which is usually around 5:15. But if you have time, I would tune in earlier, as part of the fun is watching to see if your favorite pick might slip down to #11.
Also, things may be shaken up with the announcement of trades changing which team is picking at which slot.
5:15-5:35. First 4 picks
These should be in some order
Cameron Boozer
Darryn Peterson
AJ Dybantsa
Caleb Wilson
5:35-6:00. Picks 5 to 9
These will PROBABLY be in some order
Keaton Wagler
Darius Acuff Jr.
Kingston Flemings
Mikel Brown Jr.
Brayden Burries
6:00-6:05. Pick 10
Last chance for DAL to spoil our day.
DAL just hired Dusty May as head coach. May was recently the coach of the national champion Michigan team, which also had prospects Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara. It would not be surprising if DAL reached and took one of the UM prospects, which would potentially let any Top 9 prospects that slipped to #10 also slip down to #11.
6:05-6:10. Warriors Pick 11
We’ve extensively analyzed this. Let the future unfold!
If you have time to kill
Instead of having a nervous breakdown, consider listening to one of my all-time favorite podcasts from a couple of years ago. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the draft room from someone who was with the Suns during the Devin Booker draft…
Among the revelations:
there’s a special private chat with every team where the draft runs about 10 picks ahead of the broadcast, so there is time to pull off trades that depend on players being available. No, Woj is not in the chat; it’s ahead of even Woj.
the value and non-value of workouts
so by draft week, you’ve done your evaluations of prospects and have a Big Board. Your main work is evaluating trade offers, especially scouting current NBA players and projecting team success to properly value future draft picks
on draft night, half the league sends last minute trade offers for your pick
how he got Booker wrong (undervaluing him by overvaluing on-ball defense)
how to put together a summer league around your draft pick
and more
okay, post-Yaxel thread now up!
Ok, we need 2 surprises to have one of the Top 9 drop to GSW. We should definitely want that, even if you don’t like the faller, because that will make #11 more attractive as trade to other teams.