The 2026 NBA Draft convenes at Barclays Centre in Brooklyn this week and, while there are no first-round considerations among the Australians involved, the group that's assembled on the bubble of the draft is still one worth paying attention to.
Across college basketball and the NBL, a handful of Australians have spent the last 12 months quietly building cases for themselves. Among them are a Queensland big-man who shot 68% from the field at one of college basketball's storied programs, a Melbourne shooter who completed more NBA pre-draft workouts than almost anyone else in this class, and a guard who spent the year in his hometown before returning to the draft as an auto-entrant with a feel for the game that scouts have long admired.
Then, of course, there are a pair of Next Stars forwards; one of whom is a near-certain lottery pick, while the other has used a successful EuroCamp showing to rewrite his entire pre-draft narrative.
The NIL era deserves much of the credit for setting the table here. With college players now commanding wildly lucrative compensation packages, the pool of early entrants shrunk drastically. Fewer bodies in the room has led to opportunities that otherwise wouldn't have existed, and Australians have always known how to find a way in through the cracks.
Here's a breakdown of the Australian and NBL Next Stars talent in the conversation to hear their name called across the two days of 2026 NBA Draft action.
Australians
Oscar Cluff (Purdue)
If there's an Australian most likely to get drafted, an argument can comfortably be made for Cluff.
The Queensland-native started all 39 games as a senior at Purdue, averaging 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per contest while shooting 68.3% from the field; a figure that ranked second in program history. The 6'11 big-man was named MVP of the BahaMar Championship, earned a spot on the Big Ten Tournament team, and helped Purdue reach the Elite Eight, with his productivity, overall size, footwork, and ability to read double-teams potentially of interest to NBA teams.
There's an honest caveat that Cluff is 24 and could fall victim to the modern NBA's general preference for versatile, stretch centres as opposed to ground-bound ones without proven perimeter shooting, but high-efficiency bigs with feel and physicality always find a landing spot somewhere; we see the value of those types of big-men come playoff time, and that could very well work in Cluff's favour. He's currently No. 59 on ESPN's top-100 list of best available prospects going into the draft, and has worked out with the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, and Golden State Warriors, among many others.
The expectation is Cluff will exhaust his NBA options, but, if that doesn't emerge as an option, there'd be no shortage of interest in the centre from across the NBL, Europe, and Asia.
Anthony Dell'Orso (Arizona)
The intrigue around Dell'Orso going into this draft is simple: he has a specialty skill that's perennially coveted in the NBA, and four years of college evidence that he can do it consistently.
The 6'6 wing out of Melbourne is coming off a senior year with Arizona where he averaged 8.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, but what stands out the most is that he was a career 36.1% three-point shooter (3.7 3PA) over four seasons in college; two at Campbell and a pair at with the Wildcats.
Dell'Orso will have worked out with 12 NBA teams by the time draft night comes around, sources told ESPN; among them: the Hornets, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, and Washington Wizards.
If Dell'Orso, 22, isn't able to get his foot in the door in the NBA ecosystem, he'll have a selection of European and NBL options to fall back on.
Max Mackinnon (LSU)
MacKinnon is someone who's genuinely helped himself throughout the pre-draft process.
The 6'6 guard is coming off a productive senior year at LSU, but it was the adidas EuroCamp in Treviso that really moved the needle. MacKinnon averaged 18.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game at the event -- shooting 44.4% from three -- and won Finals MVP representing the NBL's Next Stars team.
In his final season at LSU, Mackinnon averaged 15.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, while shooting 37.6% from 3PT; his productivity in college and beyond all considered good indicators for someone who's attempting to enter the second round conversation for this draft.
The 22-year-old has worked out for a handful of teams throughout this process, and is in the same boat as his compatriots: pursue NBA opportunities first, with NBL and European interest as a legitimate fallback if nothing materialises.
Ben Henshall (Perth Wildcats)
Ben Henshall's draft journey has taken more turns than most and it'll culminate in the 2026 NBA Draft, of which he's automatically eligible, meaning it's the last he's permitted to be entered into.
He entered -- then withdrew from -- the 2025 draft after testing the waters suggested he was best placed to return to his hometown Perth Wildcats, where he averaged 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per contest over the 2025-26 NBL season. Now he's an auto-entrant, and given how long he's generated genuine intrigue in the minds of NBA evaluators as a skilled, versatile guard with high-level shooting potential and a growing feel for the game, there's a real argument the 21-year-old can emerge as a late second-round flier, despite not taking part in any workouts with teams.
What adds a layer of intrigue: college remains a genuine possibility for Henshall even if he gets drafted, with the expectation that being selected wouldn't necessarily foreclose that path.
Next Stars
Karim Lopez (New Zealand Breakers)
Karim Lopez is the headliner -- by some distance -- of the Australian-centric stories going into this draft, with the Mexican forward having spent the last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers in the NBL; his stock drastically rising in the process.
The 19-year-old averaged 11.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game for the Breakers, in just under 26 minutes per game, improving meaningfully on his debut year averages and setting the record for most points ever by a draft-eligible player in the history of the NBL Next Stars program - 358 - surpassing previous lottery picks LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, and Alex Sarr.
If selected in the first round, Lopez would become the first Mexico-born player to reach that milestone. Eduardo Nájera remains the only Mexican-born player ever drafted, and that came in the second round back in 2000.
The scouting report on Lopez is broadly positive: a 6'9 forward with a physical, high-energy game who demonstrated impressive defensive tools over the course of his most recent season playing across Australia and New Zealand. Offensively, Lopez showed some ball-carrying chops, developed a revamped dribble-drive game, with his swing skill likely to be his shooting; while improved, he shot just 32.6% from 3PT.
That hasn't moved him out of the early-to-mid first round conversation, though, with ESPN's top-100 list of best available prospects ranking Lopez at No. 14; and the confidence he's a surefire first-rounder was only reinforced when he received an invitation to sit in the green room on draft night.
Malique Lewis (South East Melbourne Phoenix)
The story of Lewis' pre-draft process is one of the more compelling ones in this entire class.
The Trinidadian wing is coming off two seasons with the South East Melbourne Phoenix as part of the NBL's Next Stars program, and just completed a late flurry of workouts, with his Tuesday (AEDT) session with the Los Angeles Lakers the sixth and final he completes following a standout showing at EuroCamp.
He averaged 12 points, 4.7 assists, and 1.7 steals at the camp while shooting 50% from 3PT, earning All-Eurocamp honours and prompting a rush of NBA teams to request time with him. Such was the interest that Lewis and his representation were forced to be selective about who he actually met with.
His medical situation has also been resolved, with the NBA's fitness-to-play panel clearing Lewis to participate in on-court work after a pre-existing heart condition kept him out of the G League Combine in May.
Lewis is currently No. 66 on ESPN's most recent top-100 board of the draft's best available prospects, after averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game for the Phoenix this past season; those numbers don't exactly pop off the page, but a 6'8 forward who can guard multiple positions at a high level, shot 37.6% from 3PT, and played with notably more physicality in a respected league over the last 12 months, is an undeniably draftable player.
The added wrinkle in Lewis' potential draft projection is that he's sneakily still only 21 years of age, so, in a second-round landscape that seems largely dominated by graduated seniors, that's a legitimate differentiator.
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