With the 2026 NBA Finals having reached its conclusion, the Philadelphia 76ers can officially move past this season and move on to what should be a long list of to-dos this summer. Topping their whiteboard is the draft, which is only less than a couple of weeks away, so the front office should already have a clear idea of which players they are eyeing at this point in time.
The 76ers will be picking 22nd in the first round, which is a good spot to be in given that this draft class is widely believed to be an especially loaded one. Some mock drafts project Arizona's Koa Peat to end up being their selection, but in all honesty, the front office should be wary of drafting someone like him with all due respect.
A quick glance at his draft profile would be enough for anyone to get enticed with what he can bring to the table. However, the 76ers should probably veer away from someone like Peat due to how the team's pressing needs perfectly align with what he is not capable of doing. Parallels are often good, but that is clearly not of the good kind in this context.
The 76ers should be wary about draft prospect Koa Peat
A 6'8", 245-pound tweener, Peat looks like someone who can help address Philly's lack of size at the forward position. In his lone season in the NCAA as a Wildcat, he averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists a game on 52.8 percent shooting from the field. He is pretty dynamic for his size and his athleticism is no joke, which are the main reasons why teams are high on him despite his rawness on the offensive end. On defense, there is a lot of promise with him as well given his physical tools.
Be that as it may, Peat was barely a threat from beyond the arc. He drained 35 percent of his threes in college, but he only attempted 0.6 triples a night. Willingness to shoot is a major determining factor in outlining a prospect's potential as a floor-spacer, and that is already missing from him.
The 76ers are in dire need of outside shooting, and from the looks of it, Peat will not be the answer to their woes on that end. His shot is still a huge work in progress, and his lack of disposition toward firing away from the three-point line will only exacerbate their team-wide issues when it comes to that department.
Philly is slowly pivoting to a younger dynamic, but the win-now mandate they are under should still prevail from a roster-building standpoint. As such, with their lone first-round selection, the 76ers would be better off drafting a prospect who can help them right off the bat. For now, Peat does not appear to be the answer.
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