{"id":248323,"date":"2026-05-29T23:33:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/248323\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T23:33:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:33:40","slug":"brooklyn-nets-draft-profile-could-keaton-wagler-be-the-pick-at-no-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/248323\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets Draft Profile: Could Keaton Wagler be the Pick at No. 6?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">The Brooklyn Nets have the sixth overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Although they have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/onsi\/brooklyn-nets-urged-to-trade-no-6-pick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">urged to trade the pick<\/a>, there is still so much star talent at the top of this class. Keaton Wagler could be a good fit if he falls to Brooklyn. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\"><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/APH00PS\/status\/2060408429567434999?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Per ESPN&#8217;s Jeremy Woo<\/a>, Wagler is unlikely to fall beyond the Los Angeles Clippers at No. 5, or the Nets a pick later. A lot will depend on who the Clippers like with their pick. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Wagler will be 19 years old on draft night, and he was the Big 10&#8217;s Rookie of the Year this past college season at Illinois. He averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game on 44.5\/39.7\/79.6 shooting splits. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">Wagler is the whole package as an offensive prospect. How he was ranked the 150th player in his class is mind-boggling, but that\u2019s in hindsight. His ability to get into the paint isn\u2019t just used for scoring \u2013\u2013 he\u2019s aware of when he should make the kickout to the open teammate. Wagler has undergone possibly the most growth from the beginning of the season to now among the freshmen in this class. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">Regarding his fit with Brooklyn, he projects as a high usage combo guard. Wagler isn&#8217;t quite good enough as a ball handler or passer to be trusted as a true point guard. He can still set up the offense and slide in nicely next to either Egor D\u00ebmin or Nolan Traor\u00e9 \u2013\u2013 his three-point shooting will allow him to succeed regardless. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7a\">Wagler&#8217;s near-40 % three-point shooting came on 5.9 attempts per game, many of which were off his own creation. The Nets only had three players who averaged more than two three-point makes per game this season, and only one shot better than 38% from deep. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">At the NBA Draft Combine, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrCourtside\/status\/2054692882745798862?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wagler shot 12\/25 in the 3-point star drill<\/a>. It&#8217;s a safe bet that his shot will translate. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">Another trait that raises his ceiling is the ability to draw fouls. Wagler attempted nearly six free throws per game and has a knack for getting defenders in the air with fakes so he can force contact. Brooklyn ranked 21st in personal fouls drawn per game this season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7j\">Wagler is\u00a0a dynamic offensive weapon who can develop with the Nets&#8217; youthful foundation, and he\u00a0would provide Brooklyn with a much-needed shot creator and floor spacer if he were available at No. 6. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets have the sixth overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Although they have been urged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-248323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}