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A new era of Washington Wizards basketball is upon us after they won the 2026 NBA Draft Lottery! Kevin Sheehan gives his instant reaction to the Wizards getting the No. 1 overall pick this year and gives his early pick on who the Wizards should select.
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00:00So the Wizards get number one overall. I'm excited about it. It's a difficult choice. There's not an obvious number
00:12one. For those of you that are just going to kind of tune in for the first time because the
00:17Wizards got number one and you're not necessarily following everything related to college basketball or the NBA draft,
00:25there is a belief that the number one pick will be one of two players, BYU's A.J. DeBonsa or
00:33Kansas' Darren Peterson. That's kind of been what we've seen with the mock since early in the season. Actually, Darren
00:42Peterson was really kind of the number one.
00:45Actually, if you go back more than a year, it was actually Cam Boozer who was very early on in
00:53the projections of 26. And I'm talking about in 2024 and then even in early 2025.
01:00He was the projected number one overall. And I remember when we started to talk about this tank that the
01:07Wizards were in and it's like, man, if they can just get number one in 2026 and get a guy
01:13like Cam Boozer, that was a year and a half ago.
01:16And look, Cam Boozer was the best player in college basketball this past season. But I also think, and I
01:25think most NBA draft people would think this, he's probably got the highest floor but the lowest ceiling.
01:32And when you're selecting at number one overall, you're looking to land a future superstar, a future top five player,
01:42because you can argue, and there are a couple of, you know, good debates about a certain number of seasons.
01:49But really, you could argue that since 2004, when the 0-4 Pistons won the title, starting in 0-5
01:58and right through the end of last year, the NBA champion has had a debatable and arguable top five player
02:07on its team.
02:09So, for basically 20 years, if not 21, we have not seen a team without a top five player win
02:19the NBA title.
02:20We've seen teams get close, and there are some teams where it's a little bit debatable as to whether or
02:25not the player was in that moment a top five player.
02:31But, you could certainly argue that all of them have been top five players, either because they made the all
02:38-NBA first team, or because in a conversation about the top five players, you'd put that person into the conversation.
02:47That's what you're looking for when you're drafting at number one overall.
02:51I mean, you're always looking for that, you know, and they come in a lot of different spots.
02:56Giannis in the middle of the first round, Kawhi in the middle, you know, after the top ten.
03:01Obviously, the Joker in the second round.
03:04We've had that over the years.
03:06This is a draft that does not have, does not have a consensus clear-cut number one, like last year
03:15with Cooper Flagg, like in 23 with Victor Wembenyama.
03:20Did you see what he did last night in the game against Minnesota?
03:23That series is tied up in two games apiece.
03:25When Wembenyama threw an elbow, an intentional elbow that connected with Nas Reid above the neck.
03:33And Nas Reid's okay.
03:36They tossed Wembenyama from that game in the second quarter.
03:40I doubt that that's going to lead to a further one-game suspension in the postseason.
03:47He'll probably get fined.
03:48We'll probably learn something about that today.
03:50They play tomorrow night in game five back in San Antonio.
03:54The Spurs played great without him and had a chance to win the game.
03:58But, man, did Anthony Edwards take over that game.
04:01By the way, just as a side note, and I'll get to these NBA playoffs at some point on the
04:05show, probably with John Fanta when we talk, because we'll talk about the lottery and some NBA playoffs.
04:10This is the most physical series I think I have seen since the heyday of anything goes NBA playoff basketball,
04:20like the 80s and the 90s with the Pistons, as an example.
04:25I don't think I've ever seen so much contact in a series without fouls being called like I've watched in
04:35the Minnesota San Antonio series.
04:36It is highly entertaining.
04:39Anyway, back to the draft.
04:41There's not a Cooper Flagg.
04:43There's not a Victor Wembenyama.
04:45We don't have that in this draft.
04:47What we have, based on the belief, and remember, NBA drafts like NFL drafts, it really is a bit of
04:55a crapshoot unless there's a true transcendent superstar.
04:59And everybody saw it with Wembenyama.
05:01And everybody kind of felt that Cooper Flagg had a chance.
05:04Now, Flagg was not at the Wembenyama level.
05:07You know, before Wembenyama, you've got to go back to 2019, where people thought Zion Williamson was a possible transcendent
05:15player and was a clear-cut number one.
05:17He has not turned into that, and that's the thing about the NBA draft.
05:21You know, number ones don't always hit.
05:24You know, DeAndre Ayton was the number one before Zion Williamson, and before that, it was probably Markel Fultz, right,
05:32in 17.
05:34And 16, it was Ben Simmons.
05:37I mean, there's no guarantee that you're going to end up with a transcendent player.
05:43In fact, the odds are heavily stacked against it because, look, there are only five superstars.
05:49There are only five top five players in any given season.
05:53It's hard to find them.
05:54But the Wizards have done this the right way.
05:57They put themselves in a good position.
05:59And trading back, given that there is not a lot of agreement on this draft, is a possibility.
06:07I don't know what they are going to see in DeBonsa and Peterson and Boozer and Caleb Wilson and Keaton
06:17Wagler and Darius Acuff Jr.
06:20and Kingston Flemings and Mikel Brown and Nate Amet.
06:24There's so much out there from this past college basketball season, and you're projecting what these guys are going to
06:33be as full-grown men,
06:35which they are still three, four, five years away from.
06:39I don't see any of these players as rookies being elite superstars.
06:46None of them.
06:47I don't see personally any of these rookies having a season like Cooper Flagg had.
06:53But will they be, in three years, a true NBA all-star and a true NBA first-team all-NBA
07:04potential player?
07:06I don't have a choice right now.
07:08I'm going to take my time on this.
07:10My early lean would be DeBonsa.
07:14DeBonsa is a guy that at 6'9", with long arms and a handle, he's a long-armed wing player.
07:22He can really shoot it.
07:23He's under control on the drive.
07:25He can finish at the rim.
07:27He's a creative scorer.
07:29There's a lot about DeBonsa's offensive potential as a player that I really like.
07:35He looks the part.
07:38He's got to become physically stronger with physical maturity, which will come,
07:44so that he can eventually also become a better defender.
07:48It's not necessarily what he is right now, but that can change.
07:53That can absolutely change from 18, 19 years old to what he might be as a 22, 23-year-old.
08:02Darren Peterson is one of the smoothest, most – I've used this word before,
08:08and John Wall used the same word when he was on with me over the week on Friday.
08:13He's just one of the more methodical, patient scorers that I've seen in a long time.
08:21He's not necessarily super explosive, but at 6'6", 200 pounds, he's in complete control.
08:29He's got a good handle.
08:31By the way, he does have – right now, I think in watching him several times this year,
08:36he does have very good defensive instincts.
08:40He plays off the ball defensively very well, anticipates very well.
08:45He sees the floor.
08:47He's a good passer.
08:48I like everything about Darren Peterson's game.
08:52I don't see it as elite-level superstar, but it's hard to tell when they're this young.
09:00The question about Darren Peterson has been want, you know, has been desire.
09:07He missed a lot of games.
09:09There were cramps.
09:10There was a creatine story from the other day that he was overtaking creatine,
09:14and that was the reason for the dehydration, which led to severe cramping,
09:19which actually he says he felt one night back in September of 2025, he felt like he was going to
09:25die.
09:26He missed games with ankle sprains, with cramps.
09:29The night – the day that they played BYU, it was like a Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse,
09:35and Kansas jumped out to a huge lead, and Peterson played well.
09:39Played very well in the first half, took himself out of the game in the second half,
09:44like two minutes into the second half, didn't play again, and BYU made a run.
09:48They cut a 20-point halftime lead, somewhere around 20 points at halftime, to single digits,
09:57and he never even budged getting off that bench to come back into the game.
10:02There is a lot of that out there on Darren Peterson.
10:06I thought Kansas did a crappy job of sort of taking him off the hook.
10:13In many ways, they really created more uncertainty, more mystery around his absences during the season.
10:22There seemed to be at one point, and there was some reporting on this,
10:27that the Kansas coaching staff led by Bill Self, they didn't know what to do anymore.
10:31They were so frustrated with his absence and him pulling himself.
10:36I mean, they had some big games.
10:39You know, Kansas ended up getting to the second round of the tournament.
10:41They lost to St. John's in the second round with a chance to get to the Sweet 16.
10:46But they had a stretch of games when we got to January into February where they played BYU at home.
10:53They played on the road against 13th-ranked Texas Tech.
10:56They had Arizona number one in the country at Allen Fieldhouse, national TV.
11:05And Darren Peterson pulled himself about 20 minutes, 25 minutes before the tip.
11:12So that stuff, trust me, no matter what you read and no matter how it's getting spun now
11:18to try to create the reasons for it, they should have had those reasons in the moment.
11:23They should have been very direct.
11:26He is suffering from cramps, terrible cramps.
11:29He was in the emergency room back in September.
11:32There's an issue we're trying to figure it out, but this is a legitimate issue.
11:37They left it hanging out there too much in Lawrence with him.
11:43Now, you know, there was a lot of conversation.
11:45This was his camp, and he was load managing through the course of his one college basketball season.
11:50I will say this.
11:52He is a DeMar DeRozan-esque kind of patient, methodical, I'm going to get to my spot, and I can
12:03score.
12:03And he can really shoot it.
12:05It's not a super quick release.
12:08The process, the shooting process is, you know, a little bit longer, but he's incredible at creating space with the
12:15dribble, with his body.
12:16He's got a great feel for the game.
12:18He's just really smooth, really smooth to watch, like effortless when you watch him.
12:28You know, the real patient scores when you watch them.
12:32It's like, man, that's not really what we see in the game today.
12:34So when you watch a DeRozan or you watch a Kawhi Leonard, you know, I think Cade Cunningham plays that
12:41way for Detroit a little bit.
12:43Now, he might be a little bit bigger and stronger right now.
12:45Of course he is.
12:46I didn't think Cade Cunningham was going to be this good when he came out and was picked number one
12:50overall.
12:51And he's really developed into a physically imposing, you know, point.
12:57And I don't think Darren Peterson is a point guard, but the way in which they are methodical and go
13:04about getting to their spots to score,
13:06that's where I see a similarity between the two.
13:10Um, Darren Peterson fits right in.
13:14I mean, Trey Johnson can really shoot it.
13:17Uh, A.J. DeBonsa, I think it fits in pretty quickly, but it's not like these guys are going to
13:22lead the team in scoring next year or even the year after.
13:25They went out and traded for Trey Young and Anthony Davis.
13:29Those two are, if they're healthy, are going to be on the floor.
13:32Trey Johnson had an exceptional rookie year.
13:35He's got unlimited range.
13:36He's got deeper range than Darren Peterson.
13:38He does.
13:40DeBonsa's got some range to him.
13:42This is so, this is a tough thing, you know, when you're sitting there and there isn't an obvious, like
13:50John Wall in 2010 was obvious when they had, they last had the number one overall pick.
13:55It was obvious.
13:57There was no other number one in the 2010 draft.
14:00And this one, you know, there's going to be a lot of pressure on them to get it right.
14:06They could kind of take themselves off the hook to a certain degree by trading it back to somebody who
14:12really wants DeBonsa or really wants Peterson like Utah.
14:15Let's say Utah really wants DeBonsa.
14:18Could you trade back and pick up something and then take your guy if it's Peterson?
14:24The one player that I watched this year that to me, there's a defined what he's going to be offensively
14:32more than anybody else in the draft is Darius Acuff Jr.
14:35who was, um, uh, Calipari's point guard at Arkansas this year.
14:40Like there is no doubt that this guy is going to be a big time scorer at the NBA level.
14:48I don't see how he won't be.
14:51He, to me, has a lot of Damian Lillard in him, in the way he plays and in the way
14:56he scores.
14:57Um, and I really liked and enjoyed watching him play.
15:03Uh, he also is very good, uh, as a creator and a guy who can set others up.
15:10His issue is he's nowhere near ready, uh, to, to guard anybody, but that's the NBA at the point at
15:17the scoring point guard position.
15:18I mean, look at it.
15:19I mean, Jalen Brunson gets targeted every night.
15:23I mean, when Luke is on the floor playing kind of point guard, he's got the ball in his hands
15:27more than anybody else.
15:28He gets targeted on the other end consistently.
15:33Acuff Jr., though, at the college level, actually didn't even really look interested in playing on defense.
15:40Um, so that, that's his issue.
15:43Uh, there's, there are a couple of players.
15:45I love the kid and he's like right now, top 15-ish maybe.
15:49I love Koa Pete from Arizona.
15:52That kid can just flat out play basketball.
15:54Like he, you put him in and he's going to be ready to play the game because he's so versatile
16:00and he has such great feel for the game.
16:02But is he a bit undersized for the position?
16:05Can he shoot it well enough?
16:07There are some really interesting players in this draft.
16:10Yes, I do like Caleb Wilson a lot, but I don't see, you know, Wilson, DeBonsa, Boozer.
16:19The one that I wouldn't take at number one, if I was at number one, would be Cam Boozer.
16:25Because I don't think Cam Boozer is going to be a top five player in the NBA one day.
16:30I just think he's going to be a very good NBA player.
16:33Um, but he's limited.
16:35He could not finish consistently at the rim in college.
16:38I've compared him to Tyler Hansborough many times during the course of the season, especially during the tournament.
16:44Like he is a sensational, hardworking, you know, productive college player.
16:51But he doesn't have the short arms that Hansborough had, but he has the same issue at finishing around the
16:58rim.
16:59If you can't finish at the rim consistently in college, zero chance of doing it in the NBA.
17:05And if you can't finish at the rim at 6'10", 6'11", you're not going to be a top
17:10five future player.
17:11You're just not.
17:12So that's, I feel confident in those two things.
17:16I feel confident that Darius Acuff Jr. is going to end up becoming a big time NBA scorer at the
17:22point guard position.
17:23And I think Cam Boozer is not going to be a future top five player.
17:27After that, man, who knows?
17:30I'd lean to Bonser right now if they stay at one.
17:33But I'm definitely not off Darren Peterson.
17:37I'm not.
17:38And I'm not off Caleb Wilson at number one.
17:42Um, lots of time to figure it out.
17:46Another, you know, five, six weeks before they will make the pick.
17:50But exciting that they're in this spot, especially with all they've done over the last three years.
17:55There was no guarantee that they would end up getting a pick this high.
18:00Um, they're the first team in a while with the worst record to end up with the number one pick.
18:05Um, and there's no guarantee that the player they pick will end up being what they hope the player ends
18:11up being.
18:11Maybe it's Sarr that ends up being the absolute star.
18:15Maybe it's Will Riley who ends up being the absolute star of this, of this franchise, you know, four or
18:23five years down the road.
18:24I do know this though.
18:26More attention paid to this team that I love so much that I have, you know, had to avoid talking
18:34about as much as I would like to talk about this team over the years because there was so little
18:38interest.
18:39This team has been at the bottom of the four professional sports team hierarchy, the bottom fourth for a long
18:47time.
18:48I enjoyed the wall and Beal years.
18:50I did.
18:51I thought the teams, especially coached by Randy Whitman in particular, were tough, were smart.
18:59Um, and they had opportunities to get to the, to the Eastern conference finals.
19:03John got injured in that one series against Atlanta.
19:06If not, I think they would have been in the Eastern conference finals.
19:08They were not a championship contender because LeBron was in the conference and it wasn't going to happen, you know,
19:15against either Cleveland or Miami.
19:17Um, but, uh, yeah, I liked those teams, but those teams didn't capture the imagination of the, of the town.
19:24I mean, they didn't sell out some of those playoff games.
19:28I remember that first year after they beat Chicago, they had Indiana, you know, in a game, you know, uh,
19:33with a chance to extend the series, uh, with a game six and the game wasn't sold out.
19:39Um, but one of these days, if, if they actually were a legitimate deep into May, early June championship contender,
19:51they wouldn't be at the bottom anymore.
19:54This is a basketball town at its core always has been, I think it'll always be, and they, they just
20:03haven't gravitated and they haven't embraced the professional basketball team in town.
20:08It's been since 1979 that they were legit contenders.
20:13They were in those finals in 1979 against Seattle as the defending champions.
20:16Cause they won it in 78.
20:18I remember those years vividly, sometimes more so than I can remember what happened yesterday, but you're talking about 47
20:29years, basically in the dark, as Tommy's always said, they miss the magic and bird era.
20:36They didn't participate in the Jordan era.
20:38They totally missed on Kobe and Shaq.
20:42And then the LeBron era, like we've had all of these eras of NBA greatness and NBA memories created over
20:50the last half century.
20:51And the bullet slash wizards haven't been a part of any of them, none of them.
20:57Maybe it'll change.
20:59This pick is important.
21:01There's no doubt what they do with it is important, but it's also important that the young players that they've
21:06already brought in, uh, to, uh, to the team and all of the
21:11picks that they've acquired in recent years, there's a lot of flexibility for them to go out.
21:17Their job is to evaluate talent the right way, bring it in to an environment where it can be developed.
21:25And then we can see what the final result will be.
21:28I think with Davis and Trey young and the young core that they have adding a debonsa, adding a Peterson
21:35to it.
21:35Uh, the key still next year is not what number one overall does.
21:40The key is, does Anthony Davis play 60 plus games?
21:45Because if he does, they're going to be in the post season next year with the talent that I think
21:51can, has a chance to hopefully keep growing that is around him.
21:57And more importantly, that young talent will develop the right way, playing meaningful basketball games, playing games in which the
22:04opponents come into town thinking, oh, they actually want to win.
22:08We have to play hard.
22:10Oh, they're in the standings.
22:12They're number seven right now, but with a win, they could move up to the sixth spot and avoid the
22:17play in.
22:17Those are the kind of games that players develop best in, uh, we, um, Dawkins said that when he was
22:26on with me a month, month and a half ago, that it was after the Anthony Davis trade.
22:30You've got to have these players now start to develop in an environment where they're trying to win games, where
22:37the games matter, where they matter to the opponent should be exciting.
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