When the curtain falls on the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, Dailyn Swain should have a new place to call home.
It’s unclear how long Swain will wait to hear his name called once the Washington Wizards are on the clock for the No. 1 overall and the draft begins on Tuesday (7 p.m., ABC/ESPN). Nevertheless, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas believes the team that picks the Texas standout will be getting a prospect who will check a lot of boxes for a franchise looking for a piece to fit into its championship puzzle.
“Dailyn is an NBA player,” Bilas told On Texas Football during a draft Zoom call last Thursday. “He's a Swiss Army knife out there. His shooting has improved, but its still a ways to go. But that's not the only factor that brings value. With his length, athleticism, his ability to get downhill, defensive versatility, toughness — he's going to play in the NBA.
"It's just a question of where.”
After playing his freshman and sophomore campaigns for Sean Miller at Xavier, Swain blossomed into a player capable of impacting games against high-level competition at both ends of the floor in his lone campaign under Miller in a Texas uniform. Voted SEC Newcomer of the Year and second-team All-SEC by the league’s coaches, Swain was the only player from a Division I power conference (ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and SEC) to lead his team in five different major statistical categories after leading the Longhorns in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (129), steals (59) and minutes per game (32.8) while starting each of the team’s 36 games.
Swain joined LSU’s Ben Simmons (2015-16) and Tennessee’s Grant Williams (2018-19) as the only SEC players in the last 30 years to average at least 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists per game. While helping Texas make an NCAA Tournament run from the First Four to the Sweet 16, Swain shot a career-high 54.2 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range, while shooting 81.5 percent from the free-throw line on a career-high 5.6 free-throw attempts per game.
ESPN’s Jeremy Woo included Swain in the first round of his final mock draft on Tuesday. While Swain could come off the board as early as No. 17 overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Woo wrote, he has the 6-foot-8-inch Swain projected to go No. 20 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.
“The lack of wings with a variety of tools in the middle tier of the draft works in his favor,” Woo wrote. “There are still questions around his shooting, but teams view his ability to get downhill and solid defensive upside as worth the long-term investment.”
Bilas, who will be on ESPN’s broadcast for both nights of the draft (the second round will take place on Wednesday), echoed those sentiments.
“Most observers would rank him in the 20s, which is where I rank him in this draft, and this is an unusually good draft,” Bilas said. “He's going to help somebody and be a valuable asset.”
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