Which 2026 NBA Draft Prospects Best Fit the Nets Needs?

Brooklyn, NY—Sitting fifth in the lottery odds and only three games better than the league-worst New Orleans Pelicans, the Brooklyn Nets enter the final third of the season in the crosshairs of the league’s anti-tanking initiative. With a 15-38 record and no margin for additional strategic losses, the front office is already weighing contingency plans should the ping-pong balls land the franchise outside the projected top three on draft night.

In that scenario, sources inside the organization say the Nets will pivot from a best-player-available philosophy to a needs-based approach, targeting prospects who address specific holes on a roster still searching for a long-term identity.

Caleb Wilson, the 6-foot-8 swingman averaging 20 points per game for North Carolina, sits atop every mock draft just beyond the consensus “big three.” Whether Michael Porter Jr. remains in Brooklyn or is moved this summer, Wilson’s two-way potential has positioned him as the fallback prize. The Nets’ front court currently relies on Nic Claxton for rim protection; Wilson’s 7-foot-2 wingspan and lateral quickness would give Brooklyn a second switchable defender capable of guarding either forward spot.

Wilson would not walk into an empty depth chart. Second-year forwards Noah Clowney and Danny Wolf have flashed stretch-big skill sets, yet neither profiles as the primary scorer Wilson has become in the ACC. “He’s the one guy in that next tier who can tilt a game on both ends,” one Eastern Conference scout said.

If the Nets look past the wing, University of Portland combo-guard Jalen Wagler offers a different flavor of help. Brooklyn selected four rookies at the guard position in the 2025 draft, but none combine Wagler’s 6-foot-6 frame with elite pull-up shooting and foul-drawing craft. Nolan Traoré and Egor Demin project as the back-court foundation, yet Wagler’s positional size would allow head coach (name not specified) to deploy three-guard lineups without surrendering length on the perimeter. “We just don’t have a guard who scores in as many ways as he does,” the same scout noted.

Should the Nets move either Day’Ron Sharpe or Claxton before July, 20-year-old German big man Moritz Steinbach would become an even cleaner fit. At 6-foot-11, Steinbach leads all 2026 prospects in rebounding percentage and has shown enough touch—34 percent from college three—to function as a stretch center. His post repertoire and defensive mobility mirror the versatility Brooklyn hoped Danny Wolf would supply, but with a higher ceiling and a frame already built for 82-game punishment.

All three prospects—Wilson, Wagler, Steinbach—share a common thread: plug-and-play skills that complement the Nets’ existing young core without duplicating it. With the league’s competitive-balance investigators watching every loss, Brooklyn may not control its exact lottery slot, but it already controls the board it hopes to play on draft night.