2027 NBA Draft Big Board: Best incoming freshmen and potential breakouts

It's still the 2026 NBA Draft season, but it's never too early to look ahead. Especially in the NIL era, when so many potential first-round picks will pass on the NBA in favor of another college season and a chance to raise their stock (while cashing increasingly lucrative checks).

Unlike this year, with a star-studded lottery mix, the 2027 draft is a bit more wide-open. We don't know who will go No. 1, or even the exact group of prospects who will compete for that honor. We can do our best to predict, however. Here's an early look at the names worth knowing for next season:

2027 NBA Draft early projections

It's impossible to predict the 2027 draft with any accuracy at this stage. This is a weaker freshman class, which in the NIL era, could mean ever fewer one-and-dones and a whole lot more sophomores and upperclassmen cracking the top-30 mix in a year and a half.

This is meant as an early act of projection — a best guess are which freshmen can stake their claim and which current college stars will forgo the 2026 draft and aim for first round glory the next go-around. To get a look at the 2026 class before the withdrawal deadline passes, when the field will shrink massively, check out FanSided's latest top 100 rankings.

Tyran Stokes sits No. 1 in a weaker class

Tyran Stokes has held the No. 1 spot in his recruiting class for a while now. He will enter next season as the favorite to go No. 1 overall, although it's far from a guarantee. Unlike the 2026 draft, with multiple potentially generational talents atop the board, 2027 projects as more of a free-for-all. There is less of a concrete consensus here.

Stokes is currently picking between Kansas and Kentucky, with Oregon an outside possibility based on reporting. The Jayhawks have the strongest recent track record of producing top prospects, but it's almost by default. Darryn Peterson, even beyond the weird cramping stuff, did not benefit much from his stay in Lawrence. Bill Self, on the doorstep of retirement, has not done the best job of building contenders in the NIL era.

Regardless of where he ends up, Stokes just has the most clear NBA traits in a broadly amorphous class. He's 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, with long arms, an explosive first step and impressive polish as a ball-handler. He can bowl over smaller defenders; he can mix speeds and deploy crafty footwork in traffic. The shot looks smooth. The passing vision pops. He's an active defender who crashes the glass.

Stokes' versatile skill set, NBA-ready frame and scalable approach should appeal to scouts at the next level.

John Calipari is dominating the recruiting game, again

Arkansas continues to rack up star recruits with John Calipari at the helm; he has not lost his fastball since moving on from Kentucky. The Razorbacks are coming off of their second straight Sweet 16 appearance, led by elite guard play and an overwhelming mix of size and athleticism in the frontcourt.

The Hogs will look to use the same formula in 2026-27. It's hard to produce three top-10 picks in a single season, but the pure talent of Arkansas' incoming class will open up the possibility. The leader in the clubhouse, with a real chance to end next season at No. 1, is Jordan Smith Jr., a bullish 6-foot-2 combo guard.

Smith lacks ideal NBA height, but he has a plus-seven wingspan and a strong frame. His motor never runs cold. He's everywhere on defense. He applies constant pressure on the rim and is especially dominant in transition — a skill set that should be well-displayed in Fayetteville.

JJ Andrews could end up as a top-five pick, too. He needs to become less reliant on pure athleticism and strength, but he's a strong, explosive 6-foot-7 wing who is comfortable throwing his weight around in the paint. He generates stocks on defense and hammers the glass. The shooting and the ball skills, while still rudimentary, are beginning to perk up. He will be an unstoppable slasher in college.

Abdou Toure gets less shine than Smith and Andrews, but he could end up in the very same tier as an uber-explosive wing who can mow through the lane and elevate for highlight finishes in traffic. He's becoming a more deceptive ball-handler, able to manipulate defenders and deliver slick passes on the move. He's a hellacious defender. NBA teams will just want to see the 3s fall semi-consistently.

There's a good chance Arkansas can bring back both Billy Richmond III and Meleek Thomas, potential first-round picks in their own right. Kevin Knox and DJ Wagner are expected to transfer out, but Calipari has a knack for restocking talent.

Anthony Thompson is a No. 1 sleeper you should get to know

Again, the race for No. 1 is wide open, and few prospects are better positioned to showcase the full breadth of their skill set than Anthony Thompson. The late-blooming 18 year old will step immediately into a featured role at Ohio State, where his unique intersection of size and skill should capture the imagination of NBA scouts.

Thompson stands 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, with a reputation for disruption on the defensive end. He also shoots an easy ball, with a high release point and nifty footwork to get to his pull-up. Thompson has a legitimately functional handle, too. He's not a huge facilitator, but Thompson glides up the floor in transition and he can increasingly navigate tight spaces in the halfcourt. As he fills out his frame and improves his balance, there is upside as a big wing creator.

It's not all that common to find players with Thompson's length, shot-making chops and defensive aptitude. He's still learning to put it all together, but for better or worse, the Buckeyes will ask a lot of him. If Thompson can sustain his rocket-like developmental arc and become Ohio State's primary offensive fulcrum, he could stand out from the crowd in a weaker class.

Tyler Tanner leads a strong returning class

In the NIL era, more and more non-seniors are opting against the draft in favor of healthy college paydays and the chance to improve their stock with another year in school.

We can't know the final list of returners until the withdrawal deadline passes in May, but we can start to get an idea of which prospects are first round locks, and thus inclined to leave, and which prospects will try their luck in 2027.

Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner, ranked 11th on FanSided's 2026 big board, will probably headline the returners. An undersized 6-foot guard, the questions around Tanner's NBA projection are understandable, even if his production and all-around metrics point to legitimate star upside. His frame probably keeps him out of the No. 1 conversation, but if Tanner comes back and builds on his sensational sophomore campaign, he will stand out in a guard class a comparatively weak guard class.

Allen Graves entered the transfer portal and declared for the NBA draft after coming off the bench for Santa Clara as a redshirt freshman. He will be a favorite in analytics-driven front offices given his unique blend of defensive playmaking, rebounding and 3-point shooting at the four spot, but Graves probably lands with a blue-blood program somewhere and emerges as a lottery pick once he has more usage to back up his impact metrics.

Flory Bidunga was the consensus No. 1 portal target this offseason and he just landed a massive NIL deal at Louisville. The junior's prolific shot-blocking and impressive run-jump athleticism, which projects so cleanly toward a rim-running, lob-catching role at the next level, should put him in the first round mix.

Neoklis Avdalas, Malachi Moreno and Johann Grunloh were all impact starters as freshmen, but should benefit from the weaker 2027 class. The former just signed with North Carolina in the transfer portal, meaning he will play in an NBA-style offense under Michael Malone, which is probably a positive for his draft stock.

And this is still generous toward the 2026 draft class. The NIL era will continue to encourage returners that we simply wouldn't have imagined even five years ago. Michigan could coax Morez Johnson Jr. back for a title defense. Arizona's Koa Peat and UConn's Braylon Mullins are both projected first-round picks from Final Four teams, but could find the allure of NIL — and a fleshed-out collegiate résumé — too much to pass up. Stanford point guard Ebuka Okorie, among the most productive freshmen last season, could also follow in Tanner's footsteps, hoping to capitalize on a weaker 2027 guard class.

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