7 winners and losers from the 2026 NBA Draft’s first round, including Michiganders and the Thunder (of course)

The first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, in its third season where the two rounds have been split between two days, was conducted on Tuesday. While the next 30 picks will happen on Wednesday, the first round, of course, is where the starriest prospects and most attention is cast. Thus, let’s dive into the winners and losers from this night.

WINNER: The draftniks’ predictions

It must be said: This was the chalkiest first rounds we’ve seen in years. There was an immense amount of chatter about teams within the top 10 trading down, front offices moving up for Aday Mara or a guard prospect that slipped, or some surprises appearing from what we expected to be a relatively stable draft order. Instead, no lottery picks — excluding No. 13, which had been the Miami Heat’s selection, of course moving to Milwaukee one day prior to the draft in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade haul — were dealt. Teams, per one league source I spoke to, generally felt these prospects were too good to consider any move despite many teams waiting out the entire clock fielding offers before choosing prospects over deals.

The Dallas Mavericks‘ ninth overall pick was the first that had some speculation: Would it be Mara, Nate Ament, Brayden Burries, or Morez Johnson Jr.? (Johnson was the selection, and even that can’t be much of a surprise after the team hired his college coach Dusty May earlier this week.) Still, no prospects dramatically fell from their pre-draft speculation; there were no real surprise risers like Yang Hansen until the always unpredictable final 10 selections. The draft, as many experts called it, was pretty close to chalk, our latest phrase we’ve obsessed over, indicating it went according to the predictions. While some surprising picks always make the night more interesting, you have to hand this one to those who were making final predictions.

LOSER: Trade night chaos

We still love trades and chaotic, unexpected selections. That’s a bummer for us, unfortunately.

WINNER: Men from Michigan

Michigan went 37-3 en route to the national championship, and now its three best player — and head coach — have sparkling new homes. I suppose Michigan could be a ‘loser’, if you have a glass-half-empty view of things, but it’s a marvelous draft day result for the champions: Johnson went No. 9, Yaxel Lendebourgh went No. 11 to the Golden State Warriors, and Mara was drafted No. 12 by the Oklahoma City Thunder, which allowed Dusty May, Dallas’ new coach, to have multiple reaction shots from the Barclays Center where the draft was held in Brooklyn, New York as his former players went almost consecutively in the lottery. Add to that, of course, that one of them, Johnson, will be someone he coaches next season alongside Cooper Flagg.

Michigan was the first team with three lottery picks since … well, since Duke just last season. But if you narrow the results to national championships, you have to go back slightly further than that.

WINNER: Oklahoma City getting Mara with no trade

It was known that the Thunder craved Mara, the enormous 7’3 center which delicate passing chops, to the extent that most of the pre-draft speculation labeled them as a team that would potential package picks to move up into the draft’s top 10 to acquire him. Instead, in the end, the Thunder didn’t even need to. The player they see as a potential answer to Victor Wembanyama — to the extent any player is an answer to him, which we know no one is — was someone who simply fell to them.

Isaiah Hartenstein’s future in Oklahoma City isn’t certain, but Mara now makes him expendable. Oklahoma City, thought to have so many young players that they’d almost need to package the team’s No. 17 selection to make sure they didn’t draft more players than they had roster spots for, ended up trading up one spot to use the No. 16 pick on Bennett Stirtz, a playmaking movement shooter who might be another spacing player for them, something it was clear they needed in last year’s postseason.

It’s no fun that the franchise that still has the league’s best future, or at least the one that shares that title with San Antonio, got its two guys. It did cash in two second rounders to move up one spot, surely knowing that the No. 16 Memphis selection would be dealt to another team intending to draft Stirtz if not. But if it had burnt the No. 17 pick to move up for Mara, that would have been more difficult.

This is why the Thunder remain the league’s best front office: These moves require intimate knowledge of what other front offices plan to understand when trading up is required and when it isn’t. They nailed it.

LOSER: The Spurs within the above context

San Antonio had a curious draft night; I don’t think Spurs fans should be disappointed with its two picks, Jayden Quaintance (No. 20) and Tarris Reed Jr. (No. 26), two big men in an attempt to fortify the team’s depth behind Wembanyama. The non-Wembanyama minutes were, of course, a constant problem during last season’s postseason despite Luke Kornet’s best efforts.

The reason they drafted two: Quaintance has monster defensive potential, but he’s likely due for another knee surgery and many expect him to have a total redshirt season. In the meantime, Reed solves the team’s immediate need for more physicality and flexibility, which is a perspective reasonable way to use a late first rounder given how rare it is for late first rounders to have huge potential. That said, they did draft a backup center who may become redundant if or when their original pick, Quaintance, becomes the player they believe he can be. Both players could potentially play alongside Wembanyama; that could be the longterm future especially as Wembanyama’s jumper only becomes more polished. I think San Antonio fans should be excited for them both; it just may take time.

Again, San Antonio’s a nominal loser only due to Oklahoma City addressing two of its glaring needs that surfaced in its conference finals defeat to San Antonio in a manner that many draftniks believed would require more burnt resources to pull off. Meanwhile, San Antonio’s own needs for more front court size and shooting were only half addressed — and, since Quaintance will almost certainly need time, perhaps not as immediately as hoped. The shooting, specifically, will have to wait until next month before the Spurs can add another player in that ilk.

That’s fine! Wembanyama only turned 22 earlier this season, and this team still went to the NBA Finals. The Spurs still have plenty of expected internal development. But when its main in-conference rival improves more than them, I think the label is valid. We’ll see what July has in store for them … and for our analysis.

WINNER: Memphis’ front office

Memphis made the first round’s first trade, moving down for No. 16 to No. 17 and then trading No. 17 again for the No. 21 selection, which they finally used on Karim Lopez, a wing with huge potential on a team that has time and a slow-played process to develop him in that manner. In return, the Grizzlies picked up five seconds, which is excellent from a front office that presumably got the exact player they coveted.

The Grizzlies also nabbed Cam Boozer with the No. 3 overall selection, too. Whether he’d have been the team’s first overall selection is anyone’s guess, but what isn’t in question is that Boozer would have been a worthy No. 1 in a weaker draft. To nab that type of talent at No. 3 is an enormous win.

WINNER: The Hornets getting their new four

Hannes Steinbach, a versatile big man and monster rebounder, was Charlotte’s selection at No. 14, and he’s one of my favorite player-to-team fits of the entire draft. Steinbach is 6’10 with many offensive skills and mobile athleticism; the one thing he doesn’t do at his height is project as an elite rim protector. But he was one of the best rebounders we’ve seen in years in college basketball, and that pairs perfectly with Moussa Diabaté, a wiry shot blocker who shines as an offensive rebounder but can be moved around a bit more on the other end. Diabaté also isn’t an offensive hub; Steinbach isn’t an elite spacer yet, but he’s confident taking 3s and should improve. (He’s from Wurzburg, Germany, the home of Dirk Nowitzki, after all, even receiving a touching message from the Hall of Famer who’s a friend of his family.)

Beyond that, after Charlotte’s second-half surge that made them one of the NBA’s most exciting stories last season, it’s obvious this team’s main path to improvement is an upgrade for Miles Bridges, who probably shouldn’t be an NBA player at all (you know why) but certainly has no place starting for a team with intentions to win at least a series in the playoffs starting next season. Steinbach is a fantastic synergistic fit for their team and their future … and was acquired at No. 14 despite murmurs he might rise higher into the lottery in the days leading up to Tuesday.

Charlotte also acquired Christian Andersen at No. 18, a potential replacement for a departing Coby White who might be the draft’s best shooter. As if Charlotte needed an excuse to take more 3s!

Tim Cato is ALLCITY’s national NBA writer currently based in Dallas. He can be reached at tcato@alldlls.com or on X at @tim_cato.