By the numbers, Cameron Boozer had the best freshman season of anyone in the 2026 class. He closed his Duke year with the top Box Plus/Minus in college basketball, shot 39% from three, and swept both the Naismith and AP Player of the Year awards. He is also, on most post-lottery boards, the third name off the table — behind AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson.
The disconnect is not about production. It is about position and athletic profile. Boozer measured 6-8¼ and a sturdy 252.8 pounds at the combine in Chicago, with a 7-1½ wingspan — a college-ready frame — but a 35-inch max vertical that, while solid, trails the explosive numbers Dybantsa (42 inches) posted. Scouts who worry about Boozer ask one question: in a switch-everything league, can he hold up defending NBA fours on the perimeter, or does he get hunted?
The bull case is that the question misframes him. The comps most often cited — Domantas Sabonis, a high-end Kevin Love — are offensive hubs whose passing, touch, and rebounding make their teams better regardless of foot speed. If Boozer's three-point shot holds at NBA range, he is a 20-and-10 forward with elite feel, and the team that drafts him will happily scheme around the defensive questions.
That team now projects to be the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 3, where Boozer would develop alongside Jaren Jackson Jr. — or, in the scenario that keeps front offices up at night, the Utah Jazz at No. 2 if they prefer his floor to Peterson's ceiling. Either way, a Naismith winner sliding to third says less about Boozer than it does about the strength of the two names ahead of him.