Ten 2027 NBA Draft prospects to watch in college basketball this season - The New York Times
By Google News Sports ·
Tyran Stokes is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in 2027. Ed Zurga / Getty Images
The 2027 NBA Draft class is expected to be less talented than 2026, but it got a boost from how much money is funneling through college hoops.
In a pre-name, image and likeness era, a player such as Florida’s Thomas Haugh, a third-team All-American last season, would have left early for the NBA. But now some of the best players in college basketball are getting paid like first-round draft picks.
The potential one-and-done freshmen are always going to heavily populate lists like this one, but the veterans will continue to have a presence because there’s not as much of a rush to go to the NBA. (Note that perhaps the two best draft prospects in college basketball — Duke’s Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and UCLA’s Nikola Kusturica — are both 17 and will not be draft-eligible until 2028.)
A lot will change over the course of the season, and this list could look a lot different in a month or two. But as we kick off the 2026-27 season, here are 10 college basketball players to watch for the 2027 NBA Draft:
Stokes is the favorite to be the No. 1 pick, and it’s the second straight year Kansas has had a potential top pick in the freshman class after Darryn Peterson went No. 2 in this year’s draft.
Stokes’ passing and ability to play a point-forward role make him special. He’d prefer to pass over scoring. That passing and willingness to try to make others better will likely play in his favor with scouts. What NBA scouts will watch for this season is his outside shooting — which Jayhawks coach Bill Self has said has been better than expected — his finishing ability around the basket and his attitude. Stokes has had some character question marks, but it seems like he’s trying to address those by how…
Originally published by Google News Sports