The NBA draft cycle did not pause over the summer as scouts continued evaluations at grassroots and international events, draft analyst Jeremy Woo reported. Woo said he attended Nike Peach Jam, the Adidas 3SSB championships in South Carolina and Nike Academy in Los Angeles, and noted significant competition at the Under-18 EuroBasket and Under-17 World Cup.
Teams are already beginning preparations for the 2027 draft, a class Woo described as down relative to recent years. He added that the new lottery system, which increases randomness, raises the importance of early familiarity with the talent pool because picks could jump around the board.
Woo identified the 2028 class as looking stronger at the top and highlighted Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje as an emerging headliner. Scouts, Woo wrote, have begun tabbing Boumtje Boumtje as an early No. 1 front-runner; he is set to spend the next two seasons developing at Duke.
Among 2027 prospects, Stefan Joksimović stood out this summer, Woo said, gaining momentum and emerging as the top international prospect in the class. Joksimović won MVP at Adidas Eurocamp in the spring, then led Slovenia to gold at the FIBA Under-18 EuroBasket and was named tournament MVP after averaging 23.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting 54.2% on two-pointers, 35.6% on threes and 78.1% from the free-throw line. He also scored 22 points for Slovenia’s senior team in a World Cup qualifier against Sweden in June.
At 6-foot-7, Joksimović projects as a jumbo playmaking guard, left-handed with strong vision, smooth speed changes and flashes of shotmaking, Woo wrote. He is not a high-end explosive athlete and is not yet a lockdown defender, but could grow into a useful team defender. Woo noted areas for development, including consistent shooting and finishing craft; teams seeking a lead playmaker will continue to monitor him despite questions about his role and minutes at Baskonia, where he made his senior debut on a club that finished third in Spain’s ACB.
