With the 2026 NBA Draft set for June 23, front offices across the league are doing plenty of talking and very little dealing. The reason traces back to one player who has not been traded yet.
"It seems like everyone else's business is on hold until we see what happens with Giannis," one Eastern Conference scout told ESPN, summing up a market that cannot fully move until the Milwaukee Bucks decide the fate of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Bucks ownership has put a clock on it: co-owner Jimmy Haslam has said plainly that Antetokounmpo will either be moved by the draft or the franchise will commit to building around him. Until that domino falls, picks that could headline trade packages are effectively frozen.
That has not stopped teams from positioning. The maneuvering is happening at the margins of the lottery, where clubs are weighing whether to climb, slide, or stand pat.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, flush with draft capital, have been floated as a candidate to trade up. ESPN's Jeremy Woo identified Michigan center Aday Mara as a target who could pull suitors up the board. "Mara is expected to be the first center off the board and appears slated for the 8-to-12 range," Woo wrote. "There is strong interest in him, with Atlanta, Dallas, Golden State and Oklahoma City among the teams noted. And he could ultimately be a player teams trade up to acquire."
Others are looking the other way. ESPN's Ben Golliver reported the Memphis Grizzlies could move down from No. 6, a play tied to the league's new "3-2-1" draft lottery format, which devalued a first-rounder Memphis had acquired from Utah. "Moving down three spots to land two unprotected first-round picks could ease that pain," Golliver wrote, "and there should still be quality prospects available at No. 6 in June."
The Boston Celtics, per MassLive, have explored a move up into the lottery, while the Indiana Pacers, IndyStar reported, are working to trade into the early second round. The Denver Nuggets, Sports Illustrated noted, could take a surprising approach with their selection rather than simply using it.
Even the teams expected to be aggressive are guarding their picks. ESPN's Anthony Slater reported that the Golden State Warriors, holding No. 11, have grown genuinely enthusiastic about the prospects who could fall to them — to the point the league now expects them to protect the selection in trade talks rather than deal it.
The throughline is patience born of uncertainty. With Antetokounmpo's situation freezing the top of the market and the revamped lottery rules reshaping the value of mid-first-round picks, executives are reluctant to commit before they know what the board — and the league's biggest trade chip — actually looks like. Expect most of the real movement to come in a rush once Milwaukee makes its call, with the nights right before and during June 23 shaping up as the busiest of the offseason.
