While New York Knicks fans surely aren’t ready for their championship season to end, and the parade in Manhattan is today, it’s time put the 2025-26 campaign to bed. With Round 1 of the 2026 NBA Draft set for Tuesday in Brooklyn, we can officially start looking toward next season. This year’s class is considered one of the best in a long while, with a clear top-four tier of AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson.
Those guys should go in spots 1-4, in whatever order, although it’s likely to be in the order above, so the real intrigue from the Barclays Center on Tuesday will be at pick No. 5 overall. It is held by the Los Angeles Clippers, and that’s what I am breaking down today.
New bettors interested in betting on the NBA should check out the newest BetMGM promo code.
Just a quick reminder that on any draft spot wagers, regardless of sport, a prop bet is on that spot and not the team drafting in that spot, because obviously trades can happen. And the Clippers may well want to get out of No. 5 to add multiple young players instead of just one. But no team was a bigger winner during the draft lottery than the Clips. They haven’t had a top-five pick in the draft since selecting Blake Griffin at No. 1 overall in 2009.
Back in February, they traded center Ivica Zubac to Indiana for a package that included first-round picks from the Pacers — one in 2029 and either this year’s first (if it fell outside of the top four) or a 2031 unprotected first-rounder if it did not. Indiana absolutely tanked to finish with the second-worst record in the 2025-26 season and had a 52% shot of staying in the top four. It did not.
So now the Clippers can try a full rebuild, or perhaps trade the pick for a win-now veteran if they think winning a title is still realistic with 34-year-old injury-prone Kawhi Leonard entering the final year of his contract. Los Angeles has finished above .500 in 15 straight seasons, the longest active streak in the league, but has reached the West finals just once in that span. It hasn’t won a playoff series since 2021.
The Clippers made another trade during the past season in shipping James Harden to Cleveland, and that brought back 26-year-old point guard Darius Garland, a two-time All-Star. In 19 games with Los Angeles, Garland averaged 19.9 points on 47/44/86% shooting, along with 6.4 assists per game. Very good numbers.
Thus, the Clippers would seem to be set at that position, but the problem is that following those top-four prospects listed above, the next four top prospects in the draft are all point guards. According to the CBS Sports Big Board they are Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, Arkansas’ Darius Acuff Jr., Houston’s Kingston Flemings and Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. All left college after their freshman seasons.
If you plan to bet on NBA props, check out the DraftKings promo code and get your new user benefits.
The Clippers don’t really need any of those four with Garland on the roster, but obviously all four are younger and cheaper. If they take a guard, it might have to be a bigger one, as Garland is 6-foot-1.
At DraftKings, the 6-foot-5 Brown is the +195 favorite to be the No. 5 pick and given an Over/Under draft spot of 6.5 with the Under at -165. Brooklyn picks sixth. Brown had an injury-plagued season with Louisville but did set the ACC freshman record with a 45-point game. Brown should become the first Louisville player taken in the top 10 since Samaki Walker in 1996.
The 6-foot-3 Acuff (+245) was a first-team All-American and won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard for Arkansas. He was also the SEC Player of the Year after leading the conference in scoring (23.5 PPG) and assists (6.4 APG). No one had done that in the SEC since the legendary Pete Maravich in 1969-70. His O/U draft position is also 6.5, with the Under at -190. The only other top-five pick in the draft’s modern era from Arkansas was Sidney Moncrief, who went fifth in 1979.
At 6-foot-6, Wagler (+310) is the tallest of the bunch but was the least-heralded out of high school. Wagler ranked only 150th overall in the 2025 recruiting class, according to sister site 247Sports. But he won the Jerry West Award as the nation’s top shooting guard for Illinois and became the fourth freshman ever to lead his team in scoring and assists and reach the Final Four. His O/U draft spot is 7.5, with the Under -245.
Finally, the 6-foot-4 Flemings (+1200) looks to become the first top-seven pick from the University of Houston since some guy named Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984. Flemings’ O/U draft spot is 9.5, with the Under -275. He is the only player of this guard quartet listed with odds to go in the top five and is priced +750.
Bet on NBA futures with the Caesars Sportsbook promo code and get your new user benefits.
You can believe very little of what you hear or read leading into a draft, but if the Clippers stay put, the scuttlebutt is either Brown or Wagler … so I’ll go with Wagler at the much better price. He also can play shooting guard immediately at his size.
