{"id":5082,"date":"2026-06-25T11:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5082"},"modified":"2026-06-25T11:34:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:34:21","slug":"spurs-and-thunder-go-big-acuff-brown-is-a-matchup-to-watch-and-other-takeaways-from-the-nba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5082","title":{"rendered":"Spurs and Thunder go big, Acuff-Brown is a matchup to watch and other takeaways from the NBA draft"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Aday Mara is interviewed after being selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the 12th pick in the first round of the NBA basketball draft, Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were thinking big. Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. might be a matchup to watch among smalls.<\/p>

Read more \u2018Heat hazard\u2019 declared for F1\u2019s Austrian GP as Europe battles scorching weather<\/a><\/p>\n

And the one-and-done era is far from done.<\/p>\n

Those were some of the things that stood out from the two-day NBA draft in Brooklyn, which started with the Washington Wizards taking AJ Dybantsa<\/a> on Tuesday night with the No. 1 pick and continued with a number of trades in the second round<\/a> Wednesday night. Among the things that stood out in between:<\/p>\n

The Thunder had trouble with Victor Wembanyama in the Western Conference finals. The Spurs had trouble when Wembanyama wasn\u2019t in the game in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Both teams took steps to address those big problems.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City took 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara from Michigan with the No. 12 pick. Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in 2022, struggled badly in the series that ended the Thunder\u2019s title reign and the 260-pound Mara, the Big Ten defensive player of the year from Spain, could provide more of the physical presence they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to play against him, obviously, to play in the NBA,\u201d Mara said about Wembanyama. \u201cBut I feel like I\u2019m going to play against him a lot. If it\u2019s not NBA, it\u2019s going to be on the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spurs fell to the New York Knicks in five games in the NBA Finals and Wembanyama at times looked exhausted, perhaps overworked because the Knicks were dominating when backup Luke Kornet was in the game .<\/p>\n

Perhaps they can handle Wembanyama\u2019s breaks better now after drafting 6-9 Jayden Quaintance from Kentucky and acquiring the rights to Tarris Reed Jr., the rugged big man who powered UConn to the national title game.<\/p>\n

One of the pre-draft debates was who would go first when it came time for teams to start choosing among the smaller scoring guards in the class.<\/p>\n

That moment arrived at the No. 6 pick. The Brooklyn Nets went with Mikel Brown Jr. from Louisville, a pick that seemed well received judging by the cheers in their home arena that hosted the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think something that we saw with Mike was just how anxious and excited he was at getting out there in the NBA. \u2018I got something to prove.\u2019 It\u2019s hard to measure,\u201d Nets general manager Sean Marks said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something that will translate when you have a chip on your shoulder, you\u2019re an extreme competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were arguments for Darius Acuff Jr., and critics of the pick will only grow louder if Acuff looks like a better pro. He went with the next pick to Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was good wherever I went,\u201d Acuff said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a bad reaction on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there was from those who felt like he had a better body of work in his season at Arkansas.<\/p>

Read more How a New York race became the first front in the AI industry\u2019s midterm war<\/a><\/p>\n

Both have shown explosive scoring ability. The 6-4 Brown set an ACC freshman record when he scored 45 points in a game, making 10 3-pointers. But a back injury forced him to miss 14 games.<\/p>\n

Acuff averaged 23.5 points, third in the nation, and led the SEC in scoring and assists. He was the SEC Tournament MVP after leading Arkansas to the title.<\/p>\n

The one sure thing in the NBA draft for years was that it would begin with a college freshman. From 2010, when Washington took John Wall, to 2022, when Orlando selected Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 pick was a player who spent one year in college.<\/p>\n

That ended in 2023 when San Antonio took Victor Wembanyama. When Atlanta took fellow Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in 2024, it was the first time that an international player who did not play at a U.S. college was selected first in consecutive years.<\/p>\n

The one-and-dones have regained their place in a big way. The first eight picks were college freshmen, matching the record set last year, as were nine of the top 10 to match another record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know each super personally, but we spent some a good amount of time around each other. So we know each other kind of well,\u201d said Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick by Utah. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to compete. I\u2019m coming for these guys like I\u2019ve been coming for them my whole career.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was some skepticism when owner James Dolan said in an interview with WFAN Radio in New York that he wanted to avoid going into the second apron. After winning a championship for the first time in 53 years, would the Knicks really not spend whatever it took for the best chance to repeat?<\/p>\n

Time will tell, but they were cautious with the draft.<\/p>\n

The Knicks traded back from their original No. 24 spot and eventually out of the first round entirely. They came into the draft with the No. 31 pick, the first spot in the second round. They traded back from there as well.<\/p>\n

First-round picks come with guaranteed salary slots, and high second-round picks are paid well. And the Knicks need to leave themselves as much room as possible if they want to pay key role players such as Mitchell Robinson, Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado and Deuce McBride.<\/p>\n

They eventually left the draft with the Nos. 39 and 47 picks, German guard Jack Kayil and Vanderbilt forward Tyler Nickel. If Kayil ends up playing for the champions, he said they will find a player with their type of mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think also one of my strengths is that I love winning and I give everything for that, and to come in this organization shows that they also want winners,\u201d Kayil said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s a good fit.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Congress can do chaos all by itself. But Trump is willing to help.<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were thinking big<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSpurs and Thunder go big, Acuff-Brown is a matchup to watch and other takeaways from the NBA draft - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5082\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spurs and Thunder go big, Acuff-Brown is a matchup to watch and other takeaways from the NBA draft - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder were thinking big\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=5082\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T11:34:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1b37bbc1a0bb094d373eb0c49e8d7b00-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Spurs and Thunder go big, Acuff-Brown is a matchup to watch and other takeaways from the NBA draft\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T11:34:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082\"},\"wordCount\":1056,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/b602af07c3409e086eac629d00217099-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=5082\",\"name\":\"Spurs and Thunder go big, Acuff-Brown is a matchup to watch and other takeaways from the NBA draft - 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