{"id":615656,"date":"2026-02-21T11:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615656\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:32:13","slug":"kendrick-perkins-claims-hed-take-darius-acuff-jr-no-1-overall-in-2026-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/615656\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendrick Perkins claims he’d take Darius Acuff Jr. No. 1 overall in 2026 NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arkansas<\/a> star guard Darius Acuff Jr.<\/a> poured in a performance for the ages Wednesday night. But it came in the Razorbacks\u2019 117-115 2OT loss to Alabama<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Acuff Jr. scored a career-high 49 points on 16-27 shooting (6-10 from three-point range) from the field. He also dished out five assists, grabbed five rebounds, and turned the ball over just once in a whopping 50 minutes of play. His 49 points set the Arkansas freshman record, and he was just two points away from tying the program record for most points in a game (Rotnei Clarke<\/a> scored 51 against Alcorn State<\/a> in 2009).<\/p>\n

The star freshman is averaging 22.3 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.0 rebounds this season for an Arkansas team currently projected as a No. 5 seed in On3\u2019s latest Bracketology<\/a>. During Thursday\u2019s edition of \u2018First Take,\u2019 NBA veteran Kendrick Perkins<\/a> claimed that he\u2019d select Acuff Jr. with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Kendrick Perkins tabs Darius Acuff Jr. as his No. 1 overall pick in 2026 NBA Draft<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s averaging six assists, so not only is he getting his, he\u2019s making guys around him better,\u201d Perkins said. \u201cI\u2019m really about to blow your mind with this one. I would actually take Darius Acuff Jr. with the No. 1 pick. He is Stephon Marbury times two with a Derrick Rose mentality towards his demeanor. He is a bona fide killer, and when you look at the guards and the scoring that can impact the league, he\u2019s more NBA-ready than A.J. Dybantsa<\/a> and Darryn Peterson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is NBA-ready. We could look at Darryn Peterson right now. Darryn Peterson, we\u2019re questioning right now if he loves the game. We\u2019re questioning his mentality. If we look at A.J. Dybantsa, we\u2019re questioning his body frame and if he\u2019s going to be able to keep up with the physicality of the NBA. I don\u2019t have one single concern about (Acuff) right now. He steps on that floor and I might pick him to win Rookie of the Year next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2026 NBA Draft is one of the most loaded in seasons, headlined by Kansas<\/a>\u2018 Darryn Peterson, BYU<\/a>\u2018s A.J. Dybansta, Duke<\/a>\u2018s Cameron Boozer<\/a>, North Carolina<\/a>\u2018s Caleb Wilson<\/a>, and Houston<\/a>\u2018s Kingston Flemings<\/a>, among others. Acuff Jr\u2019s strong play and leadership, however, have obviously opened many eyes around the NBA in need of a poised point guard who shines in the brightest moments.<\/p>\n

If he could seriously make a run at being selected No. 1 overall, he\u2019d be John Calipari<\/a>\u2018s first guard selected with the first pick in the NBA Draft since John Wall<\/a>. He went first overall in 2010, going to the Washington Wizards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arkansas star guard Darius Acuff Jr. poured in a performance for the ages Wednesday night. But it came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,73892,6,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-615656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-darius-acuff-25-img-academy","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116108404293140565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}