NBA Draft Basketball
Jack Kayil, right, poses for a photo with NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum after being selected by the Houston Rockets in the second round of the NBA basketball draft Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in New York.
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Some of New York’s biggest basketball heroes were second-round draft picks. Like Jalen Brunson, the guy marching through Manhattan with the Larry O’Brien Trophy in his arms last week during a joyous parade celebration. And Willis Reed, the guy who limped into Game 7 of the NBA Finals to lift the Knicks to their first championship. The NBA draft resumed Wednesday night with the Knicks on the clock. They drafted Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton, but had already agreed to trade the rights to the pick to Houston by the time NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announced the selection.
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were thinking big. Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. might be a rivalry to watch among smalls. And the one-and-done era is far from done. Those were some of the things that stood out from the two-day NBA draft in Brooklyn, which started with the Washington Wizards taking AJ Dybantsa on Tuesday with the No. 1 pick and continued with a number of trades in the second round Wednesday. The first eight players taken were college freshmen, tying the record, while the Knicks traded into well back in the draft to save money.
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