The NBA released its annual GM survey on Thursday. 

In it, general managers league-wide answered a variety of questions about the upcoming season, including who the biggest steal of the 2026 Draft was at where they were selected. 

The majority of votes went to Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brayden Burries (30 percent), 20 percent more than the next three players. 

The Bucks picked the 6-foot-4 guard out of Arizona with the 10th overall pick, adding to an already exciting young backcourt heading into the franchise's first season of the post-Giannis Antetokounmpo era. 

Burries is a prototypical shooting guard with a sharp eye for scoring. He is also a fine rebounder at his size, with solid defensive instincts. 

He averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game at Arizona last year, helping the top seed reach the NCAA Tournament Final Four. Burries shot 49.1 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three in the regular season. 

During March Madness, he averaged 16.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. He continued to make an impact defensively, averaging one steal per tilt while shooting a whopping 51.7 percent from beyond the arc. 

The Wildcats lost to eventual national champions No. 1 Michigan in the Final Four, but it is no surprise that Burries impressed so many NBA franchises, leaving those who missed out on him envying the Bucks. 

Burries has so much room to grow. However, he has already shown flashes of being ready for the step up to the big leagues in preseason. 

He played in four of the Bucks' five preseason games, averaging 16.3 points and 5.7 rebounds over the last three, shooting 44 percent from the field. Across all four, he added 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game. 

The glaring area for improvement in this small sample is his three-point shooting (2-for-17), but Burries has more than made up for it with his inside-the-arc offense at this stage. 

Burries came off the bench in three games, leading the team in minutes twice and in assists once. 

His breakout performance came in his lone start against Chicago on Oct. 14, when he posted 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, and four steals— and went 8-for-8 at the line. 

Burries has enormous potential on both ends of the floor, and he appears to have already earned a significant rotation role under new head coach Taylor Jenkins ahead of his rookie campaign. 

He could quickly establish himself as the Bucks' first player off the bench, providing support to the starting backcourt of Tyler Herro and Ryan Rollins. 

Burries wasn't among the GMs' top four vote-getters for Rookie of the Year; however, he may be a sleeper worth watching, depending on how his role in Milwaukee expands over the season. 

As the Bucks look to turn the page on the Giannis era, though, Burries inherits a fanbase desperate for a new hero.

The floor is his.