Jeff Howe

The Chicago Bulls selected Dailyn Swain with the No. 15 overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday. The 6-foot-7-inch, 211-pound Swain is the 21st Texas product to be picked in the first round of the draft and the 17th Longhorn to go in the first round since Chris Mihm, who the Bulls took with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2000 draft (later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers). Swain joins Mihm and LaMarcus Aldridge (No. 2 overall in 2006, later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers) as Chicago first-round picks from the Forty Acres on a night when he became the 20th Longhorn drafted in the last 20 years (Aldridge, P.J. Tucker and Daniel Gibson were selected in the 2006 draft, with Tucker and Gibson going in the second round). Swain is also the first Division I transfer into the Texas program to go in the first round since B.J. Tyler (transferred from DePaul after the 1989-90 season) was taken 20th overall in 1994 by the Philadelphia 76ers. Swain is the first Longhorn first-rounder produced by Sean Miller, making him the first first-year coach in program history to produce a first-round pick. In one season in burnt orange under Miller, who recruited Swain to Xavier out of Columbus, Ohio (Africentric Early College), Swain helped lead Texas to three NCAA Tournament wins before the team’s postseason run of success ended in the Sweet 16. Swain led the Longhorns with 21 assists in four NCAA Tournament games, scoring 53 points and grabbing 28 rebounds, which included a 15-point, 9-rebound effort with five assists in a season-ending 79-77 loss to Purdue. Swain, former NBA MVP Derrick Rose (the No. 1 overall pick by the Bulls in the 2008 draft) of Memphis and former Texas All-Big 12 guard Marcus Carr are the only Division I players in the last 20 years to score at least 10 points and dish out at least three assists in each of their first six career NCAA Tournament games. In a 36-game campaign for Texas, Swain was named SEC Newcomer of the Year and second-team All-SEC while emerging as a difference maker at both ends of the floor. 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, leading the Longhorns in points per game (17.3), rebounds per game (7.5), assists (129), steals (59) and minutes per game (32.8). 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. 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. View full news story