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Keaton Wagler’s confusing drop in NBA mock draft would be beneficial

The 2026 NBA Draft is on the horizon, and in a recent NBA mock draft, Illinois basketball guard Keaton Wagler sees a shocking drop that doesn't make much sense.
ByRees Woodcock|
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May 12, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Keaton Wagler participates in the 2026 NBA Draft Combine at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
May 12, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Keaton Wagler participates in the 2026 NBA Draft Combine at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

Illinois basketball had a special season that was led by Keaton Wagler, and now the guard is waiting patiently to hear his name called this month.

While the NBA Finals are heating up, teams are also evaluating the top talent in the college game to see who to take on June 23-24 in the NBA Draft. The Illini are a lock to have a lottery pick, and the hope is that we get another player taken later in the second round.

That top 14 pick is going to be Wagler. He has consistently been a top pick by most mock drafts, but in a recent NBA mock draft by Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo!, Wagler actually drops a few spots.

Wagler has been the No. 5 pick to the Los Angeles Clippers in nearly every mock draft. O’Connor switches that up in the projection released this week, dropping Wagler down three spots to the No. 8 pick.

The Atlanta Hawks are slated to take Wagler. In the write-up about the former Illinois great, O’Connor touches on Wagler’s lack of athletic ability, noting that he had zero dunks with the Illini.

To me, that is a bit misguided. Dunking is not Wagler’s game. He isn’t someone who is going to shove the ball down your throat.

Wagler lulls defenses to sleep. He is someone who is going to be your point guard and make his teammates better around him.

Can Wagler come down the lane and dunk? Of course, the kid is 6-foot-5, and he can rise high when shooting from the perimeter. There is no doubt he can dunk. At Illinois, he left that to his teammates, as he created dunking situations with pick-and-rolls.

The drop by Keaton Wagler in the latest NBA mock draft would be great for his future

While I am still confused why Wagler would drop without much changing in the college basketball world, I actually don’t mind where he is projected to land now.

The Hawks used to be a dumpster fire, but they were pretty good in 2025-26. On top of that, I think Wagler would form a great one-two punch with rising star Jalen Johnson on the Hawks.

Johnson is an athletic 6-foot-8 forward who can play a two-man game with Wagler and create a ton of offense. The two would gel well together, and Atlanta would surely get back to the NBA Playoffs next season.

There are only a handful of teams I want Wagler to avoid in the NBA Draft. I like the idea of him in Atlanta helping the Hawks become the king of the Eastern Conference.

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