The 2026 NBA Draft is tonight. First round tips at 8 p.m. ET from Barclays Center, and the Sixers are sitting at No. 22.
Pick 22. The land of "best player available," "high-upside swing," and "wait, who?"
Here's the thing about a pick this late: nobody actually knows.
We pulled every major mock draft we could find this morning, and almost all of them have the Sixers taking a different guy. One name shows up twice. The rest is total chaos.
So this is your one stop roundup. Every outlet, every projection, who they've got going to Philly at 22, and what it would actually mean. This is Mike Gansey's first draft running the show. Strap in.
The one name everyone keeps circling: Chris Cenac Jr.
If there's a "consensus" pick, and that's generous - it's Chris Cenac Jr., the 19 year old big man out of Houston.
The Athletic (Sam Vecenie) has him going to the Sixers at 22. Vecenie calls Cenac a "total feast-or-famine profile" — a high-upside swing for a team that can afford to be patient. His read: "The 76ers need another big, and Cenac could potentially slide to the four at times if his feel for the game improves. But he is more of a project than some of the other players the 76ers could take."
Bleacher Report (Jonathan Wasserman) lands in the exact same spot. Cenac to Philly.
Two of the sharpest draft voices in the business agreeing? At pick 22? That's basically a landslide. Cenac is the bet on tools, motor, and a willingness to fire jumpers turning into something real down the line. Or he's a project that takes three years. Feast or famine. Be honest, that's the most Sixers thing you've ever heard.
ESPN: Dailyn Swain, the two-way wing
ESPN's Jeremy Woo goes a completely different direction with Dailyn Swain, the wing out of Texas who had a breakout junior year — 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists.
Woo's note is basically a shrug in a nice suit: "The 76ers brought in a range of candidates for this pick last week and can go best available at this spot in new president Mike Gansey's first draft at the helm."
Translation: they have no idea, you have no idea, we have no idea. Woo even admits Swain might be gone by 22. A two-way wing who can push in transition and defend is never a bad swing, though. Comps floating around: Deni Avdija, Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Yahoo Sports: Henri Veesaar, the stretch big who could play next to Embiid
Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor has the Sixers grabbing Henri Veesaar, the 22 year old Estonian center out of North Carolina (17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds last year).
O'Connor's pitch is the one that should make Philly fans sit up: "He could even play next to Embiid." A big with shooting touch, connective passing, rim protection, and lob-catching juice who improved every single year in college. The catch, per O'Connor: "The Sixers would need that ascent to continue."
A guy who can actually share the floor with Joel? Now you've got our attention.
The Ringer: Koa Peat, the nasty, do-everything four
The Ringer's J. Kyle Mann taps Koa Peat out of Arizona — and his breakdown nails the actual problem.
Mann: "The Sixers are in the unique situation of having a dominant center who likes to score near the rim sometimes and doesn't have an appetite for the grittier work in the paint." (We're not going to comment. We're just going to let that sit there.)
So Mann has them targeting physicality and skill at the four, and Peat fits — lateral quickness, brute strength, and a genuinely good passer on the move. The hard-nosed, winning-player profile that a Gansey front office reportedly loves. Honestly? Sign us up for someone who wants to do the dirty work around here.
CBS Sports: Isaiah Evans, the sniper
CBS Sports' Cameron Salerno has Isaiah Evans, the Duke wing, as the pick if Peat's gone — straight best-player-available shooting.
Salerno's read: Evans went from "almost strictly a pure catch-and-shoot 3-point specialist" as a freshman to a legit No. 2 scoring option on the No. 1 overall seed in college hoops, nearly doubling his three-point volume while still hitting 36.1%. A team built around Embiid and VJ Edgecombe can always, always use another guy who spaces the floor.
USA Today: Labaron Philon Jr., the bucket-getting guard
USA Today's Bryan Kalbrosky goes guard with Labaron Philon Jr. out of Alabama — 22.0 points per game, 39.9% from three as a sophomore, and a 35-point March Madness performance against Michigan.
The asterisk: he was the lightest projected first-rounder at the combine, weighing in at 176 pounds. A smaller guard who can flat-out score. The hope is the bucket-getting translates and the frame fills out.
NBC Sports: Cameron Carr, the combine riser
NBC Sports' John Fanta has Cameron Carr from Baylor, whose stock jumped after a 30-point, six-three combine scrimmage. He'd be the second straight Baylor first-rounder for Philly after VJ Edgecombe went No. 3 last year. Apparently we have a type now.
SB Nation: Allen Graves, the upside dart throw
SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell rounds it out with Allen Graves, the 19-year-old Santa Clara forward who broke out as a redshirt freshman and made an impact on both ends. The classic late-first-round "we like the tools, let's see what we've got" dart.
So what's the actual verdict?
Nine major mocks. Eight different players. Here's the tally:
- Chris Cenac Jr. (C, Houston) — The Athletic, Bleacher Report
- Dailyn Swain (F, Texas) — ESPN
- Henri Veesaar (C, North Carolina) — Yahoo Sports
- Koa Peat (F, Arizona) — The Ringer
- Isaiah Evans (G/F, Duke) — CBS Sports
- Labaron Philon Jr. (G, Alabama) — USA Today
- Cameron Carr (G/F, Baylor) — NBC Sports
- Allen Graves (F, Santa Clara) — SB Nation
The pattern, if you squint: the league thinks the Sixers want size and physicality up front — a big or a nasty four who can do the grunt work Embiid doesn't love doing. Cenac, Veesaar, and Peat all fit that. The other half of the board is just "give the guy more shooting and athleticism."
Which means tonight is a coin flip with eight sides. Welcome to picking 22nd.
We'll be reacting live the second the Sixers are on the clock. Whatever Gansey does, it's going to spark an argument in every group chat in this city — and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Draft night is the most Philly night of the year: equal parts hope, dread, and "we're gonna ruin this somehow." If you're watching tonight with the rest of us, you might as well be repping the city while you do it. Basketall merch is always live at phillydrinkers.com. Real ones already know.
Who do YOU want at 22? Drop it in the comments and let's argue about it before the Sixers make us all wrong.
