2026 NBA Draft: Start Time, Schedule, Team Order, Everything to Know

With the NBA Finals wrapped up and Summer League still weeks away, the NBA Draft begins Thursday night, when the league's 30 teams gather to pick the 60 new potential superstars of the 2026-2027 season, officially wrapping up the NBA's 2025-2026 calendar. The 2026 NBA Draft takes place Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26 at the Barclays Center in New York City, home of the Brooklyn Nets.

The Draft is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET on both nights, with the first round unfolding on Thursday and the second round on Friday. When it's all over, 60 new players will have joined the NBA's 30 teams. The first four picks are determined by a lottery among the 14 teams that missed the playoffs, with worse regular-season records receiving higher odds; the remaining 10 non-lottery teams are assigned picks based on record, and picks 15-30 are set by how far playoff teams advanced.

Teams can trade draft picks up until the afternoon of Draft Day, so the order could change.

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