CHICAGO — At the NBA’s pre-draft combine, agility testing and shooting drills started on Monday night. But it was the first two groups to go through testing on Tuesday that most people were interested in.
Those Tuesday groups included incoming NBA rookies AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Cameron Boozer (Duke) and Caleb Wilson (North Carolina) as well as the other lottery bound prospects.
As the Utah Jazz have No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft, fans were wondering who would impress and what would stand out when it came to the consensus top two players, Dybantsa and Peterson.
Dybantsa’s max vertical jump at 42 inches, his shooting off the dribble (76.7%) and a perfect 10-of-10 on free throws stood out. Peterson’s 76% performance on spot-up shooting and the fact that he measured in at 6′4.5″ without shoes with a 6′9.75 wingspan only solidified Peterson as a top prospect.
Some of the combine leaderboards here. Includes all of the top prospects but not the last couple of combine groups of the day (top guys were in the first couple of groups to finish drills and testing):
— Sarah Todd (@nbasarah.bsky.social) May 12, 2026 at 4:10 PM
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But it’s important to keep in mind how much data and how much intel NBA teams already have on all of these prospects. They have been following their careers since they were very young and probably know more about their basketball skills than the players themselves.
So, while combine performances can help prospects, they rarely hurt them.
“Everyone can have a bad day,” a Western Conference front office executive said. “It’s a new place, an unfamiliar gym. I’m not judging anyone on what happens here. I have a whole body of work to look at.”
Instead of worrying about physical performance at the combine, the more important component is the interview and medical reviews with the individual teams.
Interviews with players also started on Tuesday and will continue throughout the week. Medical reviews will happen after the conclusion of the combine activities.
Executives and coaches are most interested in getting into a room with the players and trying to get a feel for who they are as people, seeing if they are a player that will fit with the culture of the team and mesh with the rest of the players in the locker room.
But even then, the combine is just a small component of what goes into making the decision to draft a player.
“It’s part of it,” Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge told the Deseret News. “But it’s just a part of it. We’ve seen all of them for so long, and we know that they’re all talented and good kids.”
Though, even when it comes to trying to find the best fit for a team, that’s usually the job of a team that has a mid-to-late lottery pick coming their way. The Jazz, with the No. 2 overall pick, will be taking the most talented player available.
In speaking with a number of scouts and NBA executives, it seems that there isn’t a clear cut decision on who could be the No. 1 overall pick when draft day (June 23) rolls around. Generally people believe that both Dybantsa and Peterson have the potential to be multi-time All-Stars with very successful careers.
Some say Dybantsa is the safe choice, while Peterson could have a higher ceiling. Some say that Peterson is more talented, but that Dybansta fits the mold of a more modern, versatile NBA player.
After a day of watching all of the combine prospects work out and go through a litany of drills and exercises, not many minds were changed. It’s still a two-man race with Dybantsa and Peterson leading the way.
