Darius Acuff Jr. earned SEC Player of the Year honors as a true freshman.
Amid their latest rebuild, the Brooklyn Nets desperately need to add a Day 1 contributor through the 2026 NBA Draft.
Enter Arkansas superstar point guard Darius Acuff Jr., at least if ESPN’s Jeremy Woo gets his way.
Woo mocked Acuff, who earned SEC Player of the Year honors as a true freshman, to the Nets at No. 6 in a mock draft published on Monday.
Acuff averaged 22.2 points and 6.4 assists on 49.3% shooting for the Razorbacks. He added 3.1 rebounds and a 43.7% three-point shooting percentage.
“Acuff’s ability to create offense as a lead guard will surely warrant strong consideration here,” Woo wrote, “but the Nets have also prioritized selecting players with plus positional size, and they will have a number of valid candidates to consider over the next month.”
Acuff, who turns 20 in November, declared for the draft last month. He was a consensus 5-star recruit and top-20 prospect coming out of high school.
If taken at No. 6, Acuff would likely immediately join 2025 first-round pick Egor Dёmin in the Nets’ starting backcourt. Dёmin, the No. 8 pick a year ago, averaged 10.3 points and 3.3 assists in 52 games and 45 starts.
Brooklyn also has Drake Powell, fresh off contributing 6.5 points on 40.2% shooting in 63 games (24 starts) as a rookie.
All three guards will be 21 or younger when the season starts in October.
“There is an expectation that Acuff will need to be insulated defensively on a winning team, but he is highly skilled and the most polished point guard in this group,” Woo said.
Other potential guard options include Illinois’ Keaton Wagler, Houston’s Kingston Flemings, and Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. Woo has all three going within the top eight, with Wagler mocked to the Clippers at No. 5.
The Nets will take whatever they can get after a 20-62 season, their worst in nearly a decade. Brooklyn finished last in offensive rating and had the fifth-worst defensive rating.
Jordi Fernández and his staff nonetheless received multiyear contract extensions in April despite the Nets going 46-118 in his first two seasons.
It remains unclear whether the Nets will trade veteran forward Michael Porter Jr. this summer. Porter has one year left on his contract and averaged a career-high 24.2 points for the Nets last season.
However, Porter turns 28 in June and is due nearly $41 million next year. As of publication, there have not been any credible rumors regarding a potential Porter trade.