After the college withdrawal deadline, a wave of returners reshapes ESPN's latest 2026 NBA draft top 100.
After the college withdrawal deadline, a wave of returners reshapes ESPN's latest 2026 NBA draft top 100.
Jeremy WooMay 29, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseNBA draft analyst and writer Joined ESPN.com in 2023 Covered the NBA and NBA draft for Sports Illustrated from 2015-2023
Jeremy WooMay 29, 2026, 07:00 AM ET
The NCAA's May 27 withdrawal deadline came and went with few surprises, as college prospects made their final decisions on whether to enter the 2026 NBA draft.
In the 10-day decision period that followed the end of the combine, 14 NBA prospects on our top 100 ultimately chose to go back to school, adding to a large wave of players opting to try again in 2027, the vast majority of whom will be well-compensated by Division I programs next season.
NBA teams expected this trend all season because of the way NIL has impacted the draft process. Nearly every player who wasn't viewed by teams as a consensus first-round pick decided to return to college, adding to an earlier wave of prospects who opted not to test the waters at all. These players will all look ahead to what NBA teams view as a very flat 2027 draft class, one that presently lacks obvious high-end, star-level prospects and leaves plenty of room for returners to stabilize or improve their standing a year from now.
Although the very top of the board remains largely unchanged, with our top 25 prospects all remaining in the draft, there's plenty of movement all over the top 100, based on new information coming out of the draft combine and other factors as we enter June.
The NBA's draft withdrawal date is June 13, a final deadline that primarily applies to international prospects.
Here are ESPN's updated rankings for the 2026 draft class, including the latest intel for the top 25 prospects. This process is informed by my own player evaluation and intel from around the NBA and college ranks, and it offers a representation of the available player pool and insight into executives' and scouts' views.
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