The Sixers’ offseason is now in full swing, and the 2026 NBA Draft lottery and combine are now in the books.
With the 2026 NBA Draft just over a month away, let’s take a look at my top three potential draft targets who make sense for the Sixers in the first round.
Morez Johnson, PF, Michigan
Coming off a national championship, Michigan power forward Morez Johnson elected to forego his remaining eligibility and enter the NBA Draft. Morez was a key cog in Michigan’s title run, playing in the frontcourt with Aday Mara and Yaxel
Lendenborg, two projected lottery picks in their own right. They formed the best frontcourt in all of college basketball, and one of the best in college basketball history.
Johnson hangs his hat on his size, physicality, defense and interior scoring. All of those things along with his relentless motor, ridiculous athletic traits and growth shown in his ability to both shoot and put the ball on the floor throughout the 2025-2026 season have him skyrocketing up mock drafts and many pundits draft boards. Johnson would be a plug-and-play starter at the four spot with the Sixers’ current lineup and would provide them with the size, defense and rebounding they have severely lacked at that position in recent years.
Johnson will need to continue to make strides as a shooter, decision-maker and handler to ultimately reach his upside offensively but projects to return impact and value as a complimentary role player immediately. Johnson is a truly special athlete, even by NBA standards, and projects as an excellent and versatile defender with All-NBA upside in that department.
Allen Graves, PF, Santa Clara
Power forward Allen Graves enjoyed a marvelous freshman season at Santa Clara. Graves was massively under recruited coming out of high school, which led to him signing with the Broncos and coach Herb Sendek. Graves went on to redshirt his freshman season at Santa Clara before bursting onto the scene in his redshirt freshman campaign. The Ponchatoula, Louisiana native, who stands at 6-foot-9 with a 7-foot wingspan, was named the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and named to the West Coast Conference First Team.
Graves was an analytical darling in his lone season playing at Santa Clara. His 29.6 PER (player efficiency rating) was the third-highest in college basketball for players under 20 years old. Graves is one of only 13 players in college basketball in the last 20 seasons to post both a block and steal percentage above 4.8. He posted a 13.4 BPM (box plus minus) which placed him in the 97th percentile to go along with a robust 4.2 AST/TO rate. His 14% offensive rebounding rate places him near the top of the country.
Graves averaged 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.0 blocks per game on 51.2% from the field, 41.2% from three, and 75% from the foul line. Graves more than just his gaudy statistical profile, however. His elite defensive event creation, rebounding, shooting and connective passing to go along with his size make him an ultra-appealing fit at the power forward slot with the Sixers’ current roster between Joel Embiid and Paul George. Long term, Graves would make for an excellent pick-and-pop and DHO partner for both Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.
Graves, a lot like the aforementioned Morez Johnson, is equipped with plenty of physicality and a motor that runs hot to complement his bevy of skills. Graves is one of the highest feel players in the class, flashing his sublime instincts on both ends of the court — defensively, making timely rotations to create steals, blocks and deflections. Offensively, he’s an excellent connective passer who has shown capability to make advanced passes on the move, off the catch and out of the post.
Graves will need to limit his fouling at the next level, which was an issue for him at the college level. Graves also lacks a bit in terms of athleticism, which shows up at times when defending on the perimeter and contesting shots around the rim. Ultimately, Graves top-tier basketball instincts, IQ, defensive playmaking and strength make me confident in projecting him to be a positive defender at the next level with high defensive upside. Offensively, Graves will be able to provide space as a shooter, punish mismatches in the post, pound the offensive glass, and add synergy to any lineup with his passing ability. Graves game has accents and similarities of a few different power forwards such as Nicolas Batum, Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks edition) and Boris Diaw.
Dailyn Swain, Wing, Texas
Texas swingman Dailyn Swain rose up draft boards throughout the 2026 season with an excellent junior campaign after spending his first two seasons at Xavier. Swain averaged 17.3 points, 7. 5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game on 63.6 TS% in the 2025-2026 season, propelling him to an All-SEC selection and leading Texas to a Sweet 16 birth in March in the NCAA tournament.
Swain measured at 6-foot-7.75 in shoes with a 6-foot-10 wingspan at this month’s NBA Draft Combine. He’s a walking paint touch who uses his sublime handle and speed to blow by defenders with ease. Swain is an excellent functional athlete. While he won’t blow you away as a vertical leaper, his athletic traits pop as a driver, defender, rebounder and with how he glides around the court and in how effortless and smooth he is as a mover.
Swain is a nightmare to contain in transition and attacking closeouts and extremely adept with the ball in his hands where he is an elite driver, two-point scorer and blossoming pull-up shooter from mid-range and beyond the arc. He’s adept at make live-dribble passes and operating pick-and-rolls where he can punish coverages as a scorer and playmaker.
Swain is a good on-ball defender with very quick feet to stay in front of guards and enough physicality to guard up against forwards. On top of his on-ball capabilities, Swain is excellent at reading and jumping passing lanes to create opportunities for steals and deflections.
While a much-improved shooter off the bounce from years past, Swain still has a way to go as a shooter off the catch as he is not a very willing shooter off the catch nor is he a very efficient one. Swain is a career 81.5% free throw shooter across all three seasons of his college career and posted a 51.6% free throw rate as well during his junior season, which places him in the 82nd percentile, another trait that points to his offensive upside. Swain’s free throw shooting, coupled with his improvements as an off-the-dribble shooter lend to some reasons for optimism for him as a shooter long term.
The most enticing part of Swain’s profile was his truly elite efficiency as an isolation scorer. Throughout the 2025-2026 regular season, Swain ranked first in all of college basketball posting 1.64 points per possession in isolation, per Synergy. He finished 72.7% of his shots from two in isolation situations and 57.1% from three, a truly ludicrous level of scoring efficiency in isolation situations.
It’s easy to see how Swain can fit in both the immediate and long term with the Sixers. His ball-handling and passing ability from the wing spot along with his capabilities in the open floor in transition make him an excellent long-term option for the Sixers alongside Maxey and Edgecombe offensively. It’s not hard to imagine Swain bending defenses and dishing to Maxey or Edgecombe and Swain playing off of Maxey and Edgecombe and attacking closeouts, cutting and punishing tilted defenses. Swain’s defense alongside Edgecombe could make for one of the better young perimeter defensive duos in the NBA.
We saw Edgecombe and George attached at the hip a lot throughout this season as Edgecombe has made it a point to soak up all the knowledge and nuances of the veteran wing’s game that made him one of the best and most aesthetically-pleasing wing scorers and defenders of his generation. It’s easy to see how Swain could benefit from being under a similar tutelage from George as a fellow wing with excellent ball-handling capabilities and size. Swain’s rebounding ability would be a welcome addition to a Sixers roster who has struggled to rebound the ball. Swain could serve as a Kelly Oubre replacement in the starting lineup or fill in as a Swiss army knife off the bench if the Sixers elect to go with a different option.
Swain’s elite and creative ball-handling ability at his size coupled with his efficient scoring profile give him a star ceiling at the NBA level while his defensive capabilities, athleticism, play-finishing, and transition scoring give him a reasonably high floor as a complementary player if he never does reach his upside as a creator and his shot doesn’t come along in a meaningful way.
