The 2026 NBA draft is set to begin on Tuesday with the first round and the Philadelphia 76ers hold the No. 22 pick due to the Jared McCain trade at the deadline. That selection gives new President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey his first tool to begin adding to the roster in an effort to dethrone the defending champion New York Knicks.
The Sixers will have a number of players to choose from in one of the deeper drafts in recent memory. Gansey and the front office have no doubt done their due diligence in an effort to nail this pick down in order to be ready for Tuesday.
A mock draft performed by Bleacher Report has the Sixers going after a wing in the form of Dailyn Swain out of Texas at No. 22:
With Joel Embiid and Paul George still chewing up huge chunks of the payroll, the Sixers will take all of the cost-controlled depth they can find. Reliability should be a draft focus, in other words, and Swain feels pretty likely to deliver.
Now, how much he delivers will hinge on the improvements he’s able to make to his shaky shot. Even without a knockdown jumper, though, he’ll be helpful to have for his length, athleticism, downhill attacking, connective passing and defensive playmaking.
Swain averaged 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists while shooting 54.2% from the floor and 34.4% from deep in the 2025-26 season. He also averaged 1.6 steals as he showed off his toughness on that end of the floor–a complete profile of Swain can be read here. The Sixers could always use an athletic wing who can do it all on both ends of the floor. He won’t be a name many will hear leading into the draft, but Swain makes a lot of sense for Philadelphia.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: 2026 NBA mock draft: Sixers select Dailyn Swain at No. 22 overall
