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

[aceboon]

100% agreed. Your post made me think through current NBA physique comps and Gary Payton jr comes to mind. Undersized guard who’s not a point guard either but wins with effort and athleticism — 6’2 with a 7’1 wingspan.

Solo’s( google search) measurements are 6’3 with a 7’0 wingspan. Gary Payton doesn’t shoot it like Solo but can so ball bring the type of effort plays that don’t always show up in the box score like GPII.

Solo’s floor game has to show clear improvement. He needs to keep maturing as a leader and a basketball obsessed maniac like his coach.

Payton's official wingspan measurement at the 2016 draft was 6'8", I'd imagine Solo's will be around the same. Just from the eye test it doesn't look anywhere near that long as the measurement UConn is "reporting".

 

[REB1094]

100% agreed. Your post made me think through current NBA physique comps and Gary Payton jr comes to mind. Undersized guard who’s not a point guard either but wins with effort and athleticism — 6’2 with a 7’1 wingspan.

Solo’s( google search) measurements are 6’3 with a 7’0 wingspan. Gary Payton doesn’t shoot it like Solo but can so ball bring the type of effort plays that don’t always show up in the box score like GPII.

Solo’s floor game has to show clear improvement. He needs to keep maturing as a leader and a basketball obsessed maniac like his coach.

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

 

[husky429]

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

I've been told Braylon has been in the gym more than anyone. He's prepared to take no prisoners this season.

 

[Lafayette]

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 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.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think Solo would've been drafted if he left this year, and I think he'll be drafted whenever he decides to leave. How high will be determined by his development in his areas of weakness, but he's easy to project as a role player.

Elite shooting is still a rare and needed skill, and Solo is in the upper percentile of shooters on the planet. He'll be a good fit on a team that uses a larger point forward type to mitigate the size issue.

But also remember Solo is jacked, he's functionally bigger than Mullins right now, even if Mullins has an inch on him.

No he wouldn’t have. Not sure how much we realize how one dimensional Solo was.

 

[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.

 

[controlfade]

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).