The 2026 NBA Draft is coming together, and one of the more interesting late-round names to watch just made it official. Iranian forward Mohammad Amini has confirmed he will keep his name in the draft, according to his agent Xavier Severin.
Amini, 19, has been building buzz on the international circuit for the past two seasons. He is listed at 6-9, with a 7-2 wingspan, and he plays the kind of versatile combo forward role that NBA teams have been hunting for over the past five years. He can guard multiple positions. He shoots the three at a respectable clip from the international line. He has playmaking instincts that scouts have liked dating back to his junior national team appearances.
The fact that he is staying in the draft after the international withdrawal deadline on June 13 is significant. International prospects often pull out at this stage to spend another year in Europe and re-enter when their stock is higher. Amini is choosing the opposite path. He believes he is ready, and the scouting community appears to agree.
The projection on him varies by board. ESPN has him in the late first round in their latest top 100. Other shops have him on the back end of the second. The reason for the spread is straightforward. International prospects always carry more uncertainty than American players who have been scouted in person for years. Amini has the tools. Whether the tools translate immediately is the question.
Here is what teams are seeing on tape. Amini has a smooth catch-and-shoot from the corner. He can attack a closeout. He has good instincts on the weak side defensively, where his length lets him recover on shooters and get a hand up. He is not yet a primary creator off the bounce, and his frame needs to add real weight before he can defend NBA fours every night.
The comp scouts have used is a lesser version of Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Serbian forward who has built a long NBA career as a versatile wing scorer. The body type is similar. The skill set is similar. The question is whether Amini can match Bogdanovic’s polish on offense.
The teams in the back half of the first round that should be watching closest are the ones that need wing depth without burning a top-15 pick on it. Boston at 28. Memphis at 29. Oklahoma City has multiple late firsts they could use on developmental prospects. The Knicks themselves, fresh off a championship, hold the 31st pick and have been linked to international talent before.
The other angle worth tracking is the Iranian basketball story itself. Amini would not be the first Iranian player to make it to the NBA. Hamed Haddadi played for the Grizzlies in the late 2000s. He would be the first Iranian wing of real significance, however, and the kind of player who could open the league up to the next wave of Iranian talent the same way Yao Ming did for China.
The draft is June 23 at Barclays Center. Amini is on the back end of the lottery conversation in some draft rooms, on the early second-round board in others. He is one to watch. Names like his are how late-round steals get made.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
