2026 NBA Draft discussion thread: Pick order and projected selections for St. John’s players

The NBA draft is as much of a celebration of their accomplishments and how far they’ve come on their basketball journeys as it is a coronation for its newest players. For the past eleven years, there has been no cause for celebration among St. John’s basketball players or their fans. Although the program sent Julian Champagnie and Daniss Jenkins into the Association to break out as bona fide pros, no Red Storm player has heard their name called since Sir’Dominic Pointer in the 2015 draft.

That will certainly change this week. Not one, not two, but three former Johnnies can break the program’s decade-long draft drought.

Reigning Big East player of the year Zuby Ejiofor is a virtual lock to become one of the sixty selections in this year’s draft, but he could also become St. John’s’ first first-round selection since Moe Harkless in 2012, thanks to a surge in his stock during the pre-draft process. There is also the very intriguing possibility that Ejiofor stays in the city where he built his name to play for the defending champions.

Former McDonald’s All-American Dillon Mitchell was likely expected to become an NBA draft selection entering college, yet he’s taken a circuitous route to this point, playing all four years of his college eligibility at Texas, Cincinnati, and St. John’s. He’s since risen through the draft boards and is likely to hear his name called in the mid-to-late second round.

Then there is Bryce Hopkins, who wasn’t considered a potential draft selection up until March, as he caught fire when the games mattered most. Across six games in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, he put up 15.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per contest on 63.5% shooting from the field and 65% from three. Hopkins impressed scouts enough that he became one of the select few G-League Combine invitees to get called up to the NBA Combine. His outlook isn’t as clear as his two former frontcourt mates, but he will more likely than not become the third Red Storm selection of this year’s draft.

If Ejiofor, Mitchell, and Hopkins are all selected, it would mark the first time since the 1983 draft that three or more St. John’s players would be selected (David Russell, Kevin Williams, Billy Goodwin, and Bob Kelly), and the first ever since the two-round format was introduced in 1989.

How to watch

When: June 23 and 24, 2026, 8 p.m. each night
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
TV: ABC/ESPN (Round 1), ESPN (Round 2)

Full draft order

1. Washington
2. Utah
3. Memphis
4. Chicago
5. LA Clippers (via Indiana)
6. Brooklyn
7. Sacramento
8. Atlanta (via New Orleans)
9. Dallas
10. Milwaukee
11. Golden State
12. Oklahoma City (via LA Clippers)
13. Miami
14. Charlotte
15. Chicago (via Portland)
16. Memphis (from Phoenix via Orlando)
17. Oklahoma City (via Philadelphia)
18. Charlotte (from Orlando via Phoenix)
19. Toronto
20. San Antonio (via Atlanta)
21. Detroit (via Minnesota)
22. Philadelphia (from Houston via Oklahoma City)
23. Atlanta (via Cleveland)
24. New York
25. LA Lakers
26. Denver
27. Boston
28. Minnesota (via Detroit)
29. Cleveland (from San Antonio via Atlanta)
30. Dallas (from Oklahoma City via Washington and Philadelphia)
31. New York (from Washington via Oklahoma City and Houston)
32. Memphis (from Indiana via Milwaukee)
33. Brooklyn
34. Sacramento
35. San Antonio (from Utah via Minnesota)
36. LA Clippers (from Memphis via Atlanta and Utah)
37. Oklahoma City (via Dallas)
38. Chicago (from New Orleans via Boston, Detroit, and Portland)
39. Houston (from Chicago via Washington)
40. Boston (from Milwaukee via Orlando)
41. Miami (from Golden State via CHA, NYK, OKC, and ATL)
42. San Antonio (from Miami via Indiana)
43. Brooklyn (from LA Clippers via Houston)
44. San Antonio (from Miami via Indiana)
45. Sacramento (from Charlotte via San Antonio, Atlanta, and New York)
46. Orlando
47. Phoenix (from Philadelphia via Houston and Oklahoma City)
48. Dallas (from Phoenix via Washington)
49. Denver (from Atlanta via Brooklyn and Golden State)
50. Toronto
51. Washington (from Minnesota via Detroit and New York)
52. LA Clippers (via Cleveland)
53. Houston
54. Golden State (from LA Lakers via Toronto, Miami, and Cleveland)
55. New York
56. Chicago (from Denver via MIA, PHX, CHA, and PHX, again)
57. Atlanta (via Boston)
58. New Orleans (from Detroit via NYK, BKN, PHX, ORL, and LAC)
59. Minnesota (from San Antonio via Indiana)
60. Washington (from Oklahoma City via San Antonio and Miami)