{"id":743091,"date":"2026-05-24T22:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/743091\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:33:17","slug":"clippers-projected-to-snag-best-player-off-the-board-in-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/743091\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers Projected to Snag \u2018Best Player Off the Board\u2019 in NBA Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> have the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA<\/a> draft, and it\u2019s shaping up to be a move that could help this franchise stage a comeback. Having a high pick in the draft can absolutely change a franchise, especially if that player turns out to be a superstar.<\/p>\n

In a recent mock draft, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report names his<\/a> projections for the upcoming draft. He has them taking\u00a0Keaton Wagler<\/a> out of Illinois, a versatile player who just makes sense.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

More sports news:\u00a0Spurs Would Be Wise to Complement Victor Wembanyama With NBA Hopeful<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe No. 5 pick might be the biggest pivot point of this draft, and it could reveal plenty about L.A.\u2019s approach to the annual talent grab,\u201d he states in the piece, comparing Wagler to the other likely options. \u201cBecause there might be a best-player argument to be made here for Darius Acuff Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KeatonKeaton Wagler #23 of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrates after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Elite Eight of the 2026 NCAA Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament at Toyota Center on March 28, 2026 in Houston<\/a>, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

More sports news:\u00a0Bulls Down to 3 Likely Top Draft Picks \u2014 Here\u2019s the Best Fit<\/a><\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cAnd there\u2019s almost certainly a best-fit label draped around Aday Mara, whose 7\u20193\u2033, 255-pound frame could immediately fill the void created by the deadline subtraction of Ivica Zubac<\/a>. With Wagler, though, the Clippers could see the convergence of both worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

My Analysis: Keaton Wagler and the Clippers<\/p>\n

Wagler brings a little bit of everything to the table. He has the creativity to run an offense, the shooting touch to play off the ball and the size at 6-foot-6 to give the opposing team problems. A lot of teams could view him as the best overall player still available at this point in the draft or even a player who could go higher.<\/p>\n

He also feels like one of the cleaner fits next to Darius Garland<\/a> because he wouldn\u2019t need the ball in his hands every second to make an impact. That balance could make the Clippers a whole lot more dangerous offensively.<\/p>\n

Related Articles<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Start your unlimited Newsweek trial<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Clippers have the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft, and it\u2019s shaping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,791,292,7367,3755,532,42824,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,83,91632,693,2849],"class_list":["post-743091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-basketball","tag-clippers","tag-darius-garland","tag-houston","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-iowa-hawkeyes","tag-ivica-zubac","tag-keaton-wagler","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-nba","tag-sports-news","tag-versatile-player","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-zach-buckley"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116631935866144181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743091","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=743091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}