2026 NBA mock draft: AI predicts every first-round pick after combine

The 2026 NBA Draft is starting to come into focus. The draft lottery and scouting combine are over and workouts at team facilities around the country are underway before the Washington Wizards officially go on the clock with the No. 1 pick .

The top-four prospects have seemingly been decided but there's no defining consensus yet on what order they might be selected. The real intrigue starts after that, with a bevy of talented guards and a few intriguing wings and bigs for NBA teams to sort through. That uncertainty is reflected in mock drafts across the country, as well as the latest first-round mock draft conducted by USA TODAY Sports through Microsoft Copilot's artificial intelligence chatbot .

Though AJ Dybantsa , Darryn Peterson , Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson remain atop the draft board, there are any number of directions the draft could take from there. Prospects like Michigan's Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. , Baylor's Cameron Carr and Santa Clara's Allen Graves were among the players to see their stock rise in the eyes of AI after a fresh batch of intel in recent weeks.

Alabama's Labaron Philon and Duke's Isaiah Evans , meanwhile, dropped a few spots in this AI mock draft, while several others fell out of the first round entirely based off Microsoft Copilot's analysis. Here's a breakdown of Microsoft Copilot AI's latest 2026 NBA mock draft coming out of the NBA draft lottery and scouting combine, including the chatbot's reasoning for making each first-round pick: 2026 NBA mock draft by USA TODAY Sports You can compare AI's picks to the latest USA TODAY 2026 NBA mock draft by clicking here . 2026 NBA mock draft: AI picks first round after scouting combine USA TODAY Sports asked Microsoft Copilot AI to generate a mock draft for the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft featuring only players who could be eligible this year.