The Brooklyn Nets will have to do plenty of research prior to the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Jun. 23 when they have to take a talented player with the No. 6 pick. Due to the depth of the 2026 class, Brooklyn has been mocked or connected to various players in the backend of the Lottery, but one of those players has been compared to a successful NBA combo guard.
“With the No. 6 pick, you can bet on the Brooklyn Nets trying to trade into the top four or five. Regardless, they’ll be thinking best player available over needs wherever they pick,” Jonathan Wasserman wrote on Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. in his latest mock draft for Bleacher Report. Wasserman is one of the people in the NBA Draft space that has projected Brooklyn to take Brown, who reminds Wasserman of Charlotte Hornets guard Coby White.
“Mikel Brown Jr. had a positive showing at the NBA combine, measuring 6’3½” barefoot and a 6’7½” wingspan before putting on a Pro Day shooting clinic in front of every NBA team,” Wasserman continued on Brown. “The Brooklyn Nets will presumably like to bring in Kingston Flemings and Keaton Wagler. But Brown could wind up looking more enticing with superior three-point shotmaking firepower and rim pressure than Flemings and quicker-twitch movement and playmaking than Wagler.”
Brown, 20, is coming off a 2025-26 season with the Cardinals that was interesting for multiple reasons, including the fact that he played through a back injury during the year. Brown, who played in just 21 games for Louisville, still averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 41.0% from the field and 34.4% from behind the three-point line.
White, the seventh overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft out of the University of North Carolina, is coming off one of his better seasons in his seven-year career with averages of 17.4 points and 4.0 assists per game. Brown could fit in the same mold as White in terms of being an on-ball creator and Brooklyn may be one of the teams that gives him the chance to grow into that kind of role later this summer.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Possible Nets 2026 NBA Draft pick Mikel Brown Jr. comped to Coby White
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
