The Athletic's 2026 NBA Mock Draft: Mullins #7

[RuffRuff]

Braylon is coming in at about the same skill set Solo displayed as a Sophomore. Braylon may be a better 3pt shooter with deeper range, but at 6'6" that is what the NBA wants as a shooting guard. If he gives us even a decent dribble drive and defense he's OAD.

Did you catch the part about defense in the summary? Mullins is a good defender - quick on his feet and plays hard. Has good court awareness. This part I’m very excited about. At his size and quickness you can play him on anyone 1-3. His trouble would be if the opposition happened to have a big physical 3, then we could pivot to Stew. He’s just a more versatile piece than Stew, who’s more of a 4 in his game.

 

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GP2 was a beast in college - all PAC12 1st team and PAC12 DPOY. Still went undrafted and had to work his way into rotations

I think Solo’s NBA calling card would be to show PG skills. A 6’3 CG is much more attractive than a 6’3 SG. He improved a lot throughout the season defensively, but I still wouldn’t call him a good defender. Would need major improvement there as well

But it must be frustrating to see Braylon mocked lottery with essentially the same exact expected playstyle that Solo just did for a full year. Time to chop wood and carry water

Braylon is also considered a very good defender already, one of the better defenders in all his class and he’s not 6’3

 

[Lafayette]

Did you catch the part about defense in the summary? Mullins is a good defender - quick on his feet and plays hard. Has good court awareness. This part I’m very excited about. At his size and quickness you can play him on anyone 1-3. His trouble would be if the opposition happened to have a big physical 3, then we could pivot to Stew. He’s just a more versatile piece than Stew, who’s more of a 4 in his game.

I did but not with my own eyes.

Thing is Braylon has been hyped as a shooting guard, as a wing, and would be surprised if the internet does not have him as a 4 on some website.

If he can give us what Furphy can on D (which was great sometimes, middling other times) I would be happy as his game is a bit Rex Chapman though from Indiana, soon we might see comps to Larry Bird (though if we do, we are in the Final 4 for sure).