Warriors land No. 1 overall pick in new Bleacher Report NBA mock draft

Before the Golden State Warriors can turn in the card with the 2026 first-round draft pick, they'll need to know when they'll be on the clock in June's draft. Before Mike Dunleavy Jr. makes his selection, the Warriors will have to go through the NBA draft lottery for the first time since 2021. The NBA draft lottery is set for Sunday, May 10.

While the Warriors are currently projected to have the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 draft, Golden State still has a 2% chance to win the lottery and land the No. 1 overall pick. In a new mock draft from Bleacher Report, the Warriors got lucky.

In Zach Buckley's new 2026 NBA mock draft, the Warriors were selected to have the No. 1 overall selection. With the full board on the table in a loaded draft class that includes players like Kansas Darryn Peterson, Duke's Cameron Boozer and Arkansas Darius Acuff Jr., Buckley listed BYU's AJ Dybantsa to the Warriors at No. 1 overall.

According to Buckley, Dybantsa potentially has the "highest ceiling and the fewest risks" of prospects available in the 2026 class.

Via Bleacher Report:

Dybantsa just feels on a different tier from those prospects, offering perhaps the highest ceiling and the fewest risks. He has both elite tools and drool-worthy talents. His scoring punch is knockout-powered at every level, his decision-making and table-setting are in perpetual states of improvement and he has the blueprint for becoming a versatile, disruptive defender.

He would be a break from the norm in terms of Golden State's system—assuming things run the same with Steve Kerr's future unsettled—but maybe that gives him missing-piece potential. The Dubs have desperately needed someone who can create their own advantage and get a bucket, and that might be Dybantsa's sharpest skill entering the Association.