NBA Draft Countdown in Brooklyn: Wizards stay with AJ Dybantsa in NBC Sports’ final mock, Bucks target Yaxel Lendeborg after Giannis deal

The 2026 NBA Draft begins Tuesday night in Brooklyn, and even before a microphone is handed to the commissioner, the noise around roster planning has already shifted. In NBC Sports’ final mock draft previewed by Yahoo Sports, the top of the board stays surprisingly consistent, with AJ Dybantsa remaining the pick for Washington with the selection that stands in for the Wizards’ position early in the first round.

According to the mock draft report, the first five selections are unchanged from that draft set, meaning the board’s opening tier is expected to be orderly despite the churn that often follows a season’s end. The context is that the league’s off-season trading calendar has moved quickly, with the mock framed as coming just over a week after the 2025-26 season concluded and essentially one day removed from two significant trades.

The most notable change highlighted in the preview is tied to Milwaukee’s direction. The mock draft indicates the Bucks would add Yaxel Lendeborg, a new addition in the projection that is explicitly connected to a Giannis trade. In other words, the mock’s Milwaukee pick is presented less as a standalone talent assessment and more as a roster-building response to what the Bucks already executed.

That connection matters because Milwaukee has to turn a star-driven roster into a balanced, sustainable structure, and early-draft choices are the most visible way franchises rebuild rotational depth. Lendeborg’s presence in the mock suggests the Bucks’ draft room is being used to stabilize the next wave, rather than simply add another prospect without an immediate fit.

For Washington, the mock’s decision to keep Dybantsa as the Wizards’ selection indicates that the organization’s draft strategy is still anchored in a specific profile. A team can adjust the board by moving up or down, but this projection suggests Washington is not changing course in the mock’s opening slots, even with the broader off-season already producing multiple headline transactions.

The “final mock” label also matters, but only in the limited way mocks can be meaningful. Mock drafts are educated projections, not official commitments, and the Yahoo Sports preview emphasizes that more trades could still occur between now and the first pick. Still, when a mock keeps the first five unchanged, it typically reflects a view that the biggest leverage points have already been resolved.

What to watch next is whether the trading activity implied by the report continues to cascade into the top of the board. If the first five truly hold in the real draft, it would mean teams are comfortable with their pre-draft alignment. If even one of those positions changes, the downstream effects can quickly turn a “final mock” into a historical curiosity.

For Dybantsa and Lendeborg, Tuesday night also becomes a referendum on how quickly the market is willing to translate potential into impact. The mock portrays both players as part of near-term planning, not just long-term lottery tickets, and the draft room will decide how much each team wants to accelerate its rebuild immediately.