76ers NBA Draft Primer: Everything to Know Before Mike Gansey’s First Pick at No. 22

The 76ers enter the 2026 NBA Draft with one pick, one new decision-maker, and roughly zero patience left from a fan base that has watched this franchise spin its wheels for the better part of a decade. The draft runs June 23 and 24 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, with the first round on the 23rd. Philadelphia is on the clock at No. 22.

That’s the whole arsenal. One first-rounder. No second-round pick. If you were hoping for a draft-night avalanche, adjust your expectations now.

Here’s what actually matters.

The 76ers Draft Situation, In Plain Terms

The pick at 22 isn’t even originally Philadelphia’s. It came over from Oklahoma City by way of Houston in the Jared McCain trade at the deadline. The Sixers shipped their own first-rounder out years ago in the Danny Green deal, and the second-rounder is long gone too. So when people ask what the 76ers are working with, the answer is: pick 22, and that’s it.

>> Shop 76ers Gear Here

The wrinkle is who’s making the call. Mike Gansey is running his first draft as president of basketball operations after Daryl Morey was shown the door. Gansey came up through Cleveland, where he built a reputation for finding rotation players in spots nobody else was looking, the G League, two-way deals, undrafted guys. The Sixers also got a piece of NBA draft news in April when the league broke a tie that locked them into the 22 slot.

The catch: Gansey got the job late, which means a compressed runway. Beat coverage has framed this as the first real benchmark of his roster-building approach. Workouts only started ramping up this week. Translation, even the front office isn’t fully settled on what it wants.

Who the 76ers Could Take at No. 22

This is a deep draft, which is good news for a team picking this late. Three names keep showing up in the mocks.

Dailyn Swain (SG/SF, Texas) is the connector wing. He’s 6’7″, put up 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists, and gets downhill in a way the 76ers’ bench badly needs. The hold-up is the jumper, he hit 34% from three at Texas, which is a real jump from his Xavier days but still not the kind of stroke that scares an NBA defense. Both ESPN’s Woo and SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell mock him here.

Joshua Jefferson (F, Iowa State) is the playmaking forward. At 6’9″ he averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists and shot 35% from three on real volume. He can run offense as a big, which is rare. The asterisk is a March Madness injury that probably cooled some of his momentum. USA Today’s Bryan Kalbrosky has him going to the Sixers.

Chris Cenac Jr. (PF/C, Houston) is the swing-for-the-fences pick. He’s 6’11” with a 7’5″ wingspan and an NBA frame already, but the production didn’t match the measurables — 9.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and foul trouble that kept him off the floor. Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor flat-out called him a project. He could be a steal or he could be three years away. Both can be true.

Notice the theme. Every name addresses something the 76ers actually lack: rebounding, wing depth, or a big body behind Joel Embiid.

If the 76ers Decide to Trade Up

Philadelphia has something like 20 future picks stockpiled through 2032, which is more than enough ammo to move up the board if a name they love is sliding.

The expensive tier, moving up eight or nine spots, which costs a quality future first on top of 22, puts two Michigan bigs in play. Morez Johnson (F/C) is the bruising rebounder projected in the 12–16 range who’d give Embiid real insurance and a motor the team has lacked. Aday Mara (C) is the 7-foot Spaniard with freakish court vision for his size, the kind of long-term backup center the Sixers have been chasing for years.

The cheaper move, a couple spots, a future second or two, keeps Cameron Carr (G, Baylor), a 6’5″ two-way wing who fits the three-guard looks Philadelphia leaned on last year, and Labaron Philon Jr. (G, Alabama), a lead guard who could share a backcourt with Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe in spurts.

Will Gansey actually pull the trigger? Unknown. But the capital is there, and a new executive trying to prove a point doesn’t usually sit on his hands.

What to Watch on Draft Night

Three things. One, whether the 76ers stay at 22 or package picks to climb. Two, whether they prioritize a ready-now contributor or take the long-view project. Three, what the first Gansey pick tells you about how this front office actually thinks, because after the season Philadelphia just had, the answer to that question matters a lot more than one rookie at No. 22.

June 23. We’ll know soon enough.