Welcome to the 2026 Kings Herald Community Draft Board! It’s been a few years since we’ve done this but it used to be an annual tradition. The last time we did this the Kings took Keegan Murray with the 4th pick overall who was 6th on the Community Draft Board.
This is the readership’s opportunity to create a democratic draft board which represents the order in which we as a collective would like the Kings’ draft board to look like. It does not represent the desires of individual writers or fans, but some semblance of the community’s collective thinking.
When a choice comes up, pick who you’d want the Kings to pick given all the players remaining. Note: THIS IS NOT A MOCK DRAFT. This is a draft board, a ranked list of prospects you’d like to see the Kings pick. In other words, if we were the Kings front office, when our pick came up, we’d take the top name left on our board. So pick your choice, not who you think Scott Perry or anyone else would choose in a slot.
Explain your choice in the comments, and lobby for who should be added to the next pick’s choices. We’ll be doing this every weekday morning over the next few weeks.
I voted AJ Dybantsa. I think Cameron Boozer and Darryn Peterson are also both great but I think Dybantsa has the highest ceiling of anyone in the draft and is at the most important position for the modern NBA.
Same. 3 level scorer with all the best metrics for today’s NBA. I think he could be the next Paul George.
With you both.
Not sure AJ will be the defensive stalwart that Paul George was. But offensively, he’s going to be a beast.
nice. have you considered doing a ranked-voting method? I met someone who built open source code for that – he was not thinking of draft boards (more like dinner choices among friends). I of course thought of the most useful application for that, which would be the KingsHerald draft board. You could probably find code for that and paste it. If it’s not out there yet, it would be easy to make with vibe coding.
Ranked choice might make more sense if we had hundreds of people voting but for this small community project where we get a hundred or so votes, I’d rather just keep it simple like this.
that’s fine also.
I like Boozer but agree AJ is the top prospect.
Given AJ’s connections to the Jazz/Utah, I’m guessing the Jazz covet AJ.
if I was the Wiz GM, I would dangle that first pick. It’s really a crapshoot with these top three or four players anyways. Why not just move back one spot and potentially pick up another first next year for your troubles?!
Move back a slot, take Boozer who would fit well next to Sarr.
Scott Pollard raved about Boozer. He has been quite accurate in his assessments.
I vote for Boozer.
Boozer is the safe pick, I absolutely would not knock the Wiz for taking him first.
FWIW, he’s #2 for me, and I think Utah should take him, despite having JJJ and Lauri. Peterson’s supposed health issues worry me.
If Utah did take Boozer, I’d offer the #7 for JJJ.
Lauri, Boozer and JJJ would make for an interesting jumbo frontline, especially considering they can all space the floor.
Keyonte
Ace
Lauri
Boozer
JJJ
That’s a pretty sick jumbo starting 5.
Then what about Kessler and Flip? Those two are deserving of minutes. Move them?
Possibly trade one of those two. Knowing the Ainges they’ll probably get a haul for either one lol.
It’ll take some time, but imo, Caleb Wilson will end up being the best player from this draft.
That doesn’t mean he should be picked first. It would take a GM with big cajones to take Caleb over the other big three. Ainge and Presti are probably the only two GMs that would make such a pick.
But does he have a quick second jump?
I was thinking more like the venerable Antonio McDyess with a little Blake and Kemp sprinkled in.
Agreed!
AJ Dybansta. BPA + position of team need + league positional value
Cam Boozer
He’s been a winner at all levels, has the drive and the pedigree, and with that resumé some of the know how. Additionally, if I were Washington and had the wherewithal to understand the tangibles stacked against that organization, just like the Sacramento Kings, I would want someone to overcome the ills of the franchise. Washington is a version of Kangz East (Wizurds?) so my take applies to both the Wizards picking and if Sacramento were to pick. It takes more than the tools to succeed but the know how. I think Cam Boozer will be the better pro. If he is Minny (not-Mini) Kevin Love great – i think he will closer to Sacramento (prime) Chris Webber but with range (current Kevin Love).
Will AJD still be the higher highlight? I think Cam Boozer will be and a better building block for a franchise.
And 1-
This latest crop of Blue Devils are not the Kryzewski version (see Flagg and Kneupel, Banchero) and seem to be better pros. Boozer will follow these footsteps (just my guess)
I don’t recall Duke winning the national championship this year despite having a loaded roster.
People have completely forgotten that run Love went on in MInny. It was a thing to behold. And I’ve liked Love as a comp for Boozer for a long time. Completely understandable to take Boozer number one.
Biggest upside Peterson but also risky, Best Pick Dybantsa
And one of the worst-kept secrets in the league is that the Kings want Acuff.
I would put Wlson at 2 (he could be the best player in 2-3 seasons), Peterson at 3, and Boozer at 4. Acuff could be 5 for his scoring, but he’s a risk in a guard-heavy draft. I hope we stop going for guards and build up the 3-5 positions, as those are the most important players on the court, if they can shoot and play defense. This may be the reason to trade down to the 8-10 sports and pick up a young asset, who might not be coveted by the team we trade with.
I think Ament and Yaxel (5-6 in the draft) should be in contention for 5-7. If I were the Kings, I would think long and hard on these two. I think Ament is one of the bigest risk/rewards in the draft and we might need to take the risk. Yaxel has less risk, is older, but is a better option than all of the guards, except for Peterson. We all say draft Acuff, Wagler, Felmmings, etc, but I think we should consider Ament and Yaxel to truly get one of the top 6-7 players in the draft.
Good points. None of us really know. I just don’t buy into the defensive liability Acuff supposedly presents. Much of defense is having the desire to play it. When I watch current NBA players who are tagged with not playing defense many of them are just not asked to overextend themselves on that side of the ball. When I watch and evaluate myself I’ve seen guys like the Joker, Doncic, Curry and even James Harden play good defense at times especially in crunch time.
Acuff has the physical skills to play defense and I suspect he’ll end up being an adequate defender in the NBA. His ability to score in various ways to me sets him apart from guys like Flemings and Kessler.
I agree with you regarding Wilson but the Kings have no chance to get him.
Voted AJ: Besides what’s already been said, I’m looking for someone to ignite some excitement and hope.
Lobbying for Keaton Wagler to be added. Besides the numbers, the best ability is availability. He deserves to be there just as much if not more than Peterson.
I don’t think Wagler possesses the athleticism to be a high end talent in the NBA. He certainly isn’t the athlete Peterson is.
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