It is admittedly easy to get a little bored watching Cameron Boozer. Scouting young basketball players usually offers a sense of discovery, but Boozer has been displaying the same steady dominance since he was 14 years old. There are no frills to his game, just sound decision-making with a well-rounded skill set and a physical style of play. As a high school player, Boozer won four state championships in Florida, three EYBL championships on the Nike grassroots circuit, two gold medals with USA Basketball, and one mythical national championship playing against prep schools from all over the country. His Duke team lost three games by a combined five points all year, and it took a miracle to keep them out of the Final Four. At every stop, Boozer has consistently been the star player driving his team’s success.

Critics will always find a way to excuse Boozer’s mastery. He was overpowering high schoolers. He won’t be able to score over real rim protectors in the pros. NBA forwards are going to burn him with their speed. At least so far, Boozer has been unfazed by any jump in competition despite also being the youngest player on the floor with a July 2007 birthday that will make him the only projected lottery pick who is still 18 years old on draft day.

There are no perfect players, and Boozer is far from perfect. He’s slow, he isn’t a great leaper, and often looks pretty stiff in tight spaces. Of course, you can poke holes in Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic too, and it hasn’t stopped them from being three of the best players of their generation.

Boozer was the best player in college basketball this season as a true freshman, but he isn’t considered the consensus No. 1 overall pick at the top of the 2026 NBA Draft. Classmates A.J Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Caleb Wilson are excellent prospects in their own rights, and in some ways it’s understandable why people think they will translate to the pros better than Boozer. I’m here to tell you those people are overthinking it. Boozer is the best prospect in the 2026 NBA Draft, and each team that passes on him in the lottery is making a huge mistake.

Boozer has crushed every level of competition. There’s no reason to think it won’t continue in the NBA.

Boozer’s production is unmatched

Boozer became the fifth freshman ever to win the Wooden Award as college basketball’s most outstanding player this season, and it was nearly unanimous with 59 of 61 first-place votes.

Boozer just had college basketball’s second most productive season since basketball-reference started tracking box-score plus/minus. BPM is an all-in-one metric that “estimates a basketball player’s contribution to the team when that player is on the court.” It is not a flawless stat, but it’s one of the better public metrics for capturing individual performance.

Being super productive at a young age against older competition is perhaps the biggest signal of future stardom. The only other freshmen on this list — Williamson, Davis, Flagg, and Holmgren — have all acquitted themselves well in the NBA so far.

Rank	Player	BPM	Year	School
1	Zion Williamson	20.1	2019	Duke
2	Cameron Boozer	18.4	2026	Duke
2	Anthony Davis	17.24	2012	Kentucky
3	Sindarius Thornwell	17.14	2017	South Carolina
4	Zach Edey	16.7	2024	Purdue
5	Cooper Flagg	16.35	2025	Duke
6	Brandon Clarke	16.3	2019	Gonzaga
7	Frank Kaminsky	16.2	2015	Wisconsin
8	Trayce Jackson-Davis	16.02	2023	Indiana
9	Keegan Murray	15.69	2022	Iowa
10	Denzel Valentine	15.57	2016	Michigan State
11	Delon Wright	15.55	2015	Utah
12	Zach Edey	15.39	2023	Purdue
13	Victor Oladipo	15.09	2013	Indiana
14	Donovan Clingan	15	2024	UConn
15	Chet Holmgren	14.97	2022	Gonzaga

Want some diversity in your all-in-one metrics? Boozer also posted the highest single-season RAPM score since Hoop-Exploder started tracking college basketball in 2017-18. RAPM measures a player’s impact on scoring margin to reflect their contribution to team success regardless of numbers in the box score. In short, when Boozer is on the floor, his team consistently wins his minutes. I don’t think that trend is stopping now.

Boozer’s offensive versatility is unmatched

Most players are best when they’re used in certain ways. Not Boozer. The 6’9, 250-pound forward can play a variety of different roles on offense, and excel in all of them. This season at Duke, Boozer spent at least nine percent of his time doing eight different play types, and scored efficiently on all of them.

Yes, Boozer was able to bully college competition on post-ups. He was also awesome at pick-and-roll ball handling, spot-up shooting, offensive rebounding, isolation scoring, cuts, and roll man duties. Here’s the points per possession data on these variety play types, via Synergy Sports. This shows that Boozer won’t be pigeonholed into a role at the next level.

Play type	PPP	PPP Rank	PPP Rating	Percent of Time
Post Up	1.096	86%	Excellent	21%
Pick and Roll Handler	0.938	77%	Very Good	10.90%
Spot-Up	1.269	95%	Excellent	10.50%
Transition	1.347	88%	Excellent	10.10%
Offensive Rebounds (Putbacks)	1.384	85%	Excellent	9.80%
Iso	1.042	81%	Very Good	9.70%
Cut	1.486	88%	Excellent	9.70%
PnR Roll Man	1.275	82%	Very Good	9.30%

Boozer has a supercomputer brain

Boozer is great in a lot of areas, but his best skill may be his processing. You might be more likely to hear that term when reading about quarterbacks in the NFL Draft, but it’s equally critical in basketball. Star players need to be able internalize a constantly changing set of variables in a split second and use it to maximize their win probability on any given possession. Boozer does this better than any 18-year-old forward you will ever see.

Boozer is such a good scorer that he commands a lot of defensive attention. It only makes him more deadly as a passer. He’s the sort of player who never forces his own offense, and instead just wants to make the right play. Watch this possession, where Boozer turns a post-up into an alley-oop dunk by manipulating the weakside defender with his eyes to make him think the pass is going to the corner.

pic.twitter.com/bR7XWuPq6D

— Follow @CrazieCast (@DukeTWTClips) February 28, 2026

Look at this pass against national champion Michigan where Boozer sucks in the help as a driver before bailing out at the very last second to create an open wing three for his teammate:

I can't believe this pass from Cam Boozer on Saturday. Unreal stuff. Backhand pass while moving down the lane at full speed…. It is silly how impressive this is. pic.twitter.com/jv9jaziA3r

— JPR (@Scouting_Col) February 23, 2026

Boozer’s 25.6 percent assist is a tremendous mark for a freshman with his size, and I’m even more impressed by his 3.6 rim assists per 100 possessions. Rim assists are the most valuable pass you can make on the court because there’s a greater chance of completing the play than with a longer jump shot.

Here’s how Boozer compares as a passer to his other peers projected to be drafted in the top-10.

Player	Assist %	Rim assists per 100
Cameron Boozer	25.6	3.6
AJ Dybantsa	22.1	2.2
Darryn Peterson	12.5	1.8
Caleb Wilson	18.1	2.5
Kingston Flemings	32.6	3.7
Yaxel Lendeborg	18	2.9
Keaton Wagler	23.2	2.4

Only Flemings is a better playmaker among the elite prospects in this class, and he’s a smaller guard at 6’3. Boozer doesn’t have to play on the ball (more on that later), but when he does, you can trust him to make excellent decisions.

Boozer’s physicality is top notch

Boozer exited Duke’s shocking Elite Eight loss to UConn with “a couple fractures” in his face and scratches all over his arms. His opponents got it just as badly as he did he all year. Boozer consistently uses his 250-pound frame to his advantage, and it shows up mostly in his rebounding, screen setting, hard rolls to the rim, and ability to get to the foul line.

Boozer is going to generate a lot of extra possessions on the offensive glass. His 12.5 percent offensive rebound rate ranked in the 97th percentile for prospects in this draft class, per DraftBallr. On this possession, Boozer creates the open corner three for a teammate, works to get into rebound position, and finishes it with a putback after he grabs the offensive board.

Boozer uses his physicality to consistently muscle his way into free throws, too. Getting the foul line is a star skill in the NBA, and Boozer has it. On this play, he’s acting as the roll man and finishes over Rueben Chinyelu for the and-one. Chinyelu is listed at 6’10, 265 pounds with a 7’8 wingspan, which would make him one of the longest and heaviest players in the NBA. Boozer still invited the contact and got the bucket.

cam boozer moves florida's rueben chinyelu – one of the most physical and strongest players in college basketball – under the basket for an easy and-1 finish pic.twitter.com/4Bt9REbGUC

— Chip (@SwingSkill) January 20, 2026

Boozer’s 53.6 percent free throw rate ranks in the 89th percentile of the class, per DraftBallr. You can count on him to make his freebies too with a 79 percent stroke from the foul line on 280 attempts.

Boozer will shoot at a high level in the NBA

Boozer’s free throw percentage is a sign of strong touch, and his range extends to the NBA three-point line. This season, he made 39.1 percent of his 138 three-pointers. He’s going to be a weapon on pick-and-pops from day one while also being able to space the floor as a spot-up shooter.

Boozer had 147 possessions as a jump shooter this year and scored 1.12 points per possession, which ranked in the 86th percentile of the country. He’s at his best as a shooter when a teammate sets him up. Boozer scored 1.22 PPP on his catch-and-shoot attempts this year, posting impressive 61.2 percent true shooting on this opportunities. He has easy NBA range on his jumper when he gets squared up.

Boozer can hit shots over contests despite a slower release. On 41 possessions this season, he went 16-of-25 and scored 1.17 PPP on “contest jumpers,” according to Synergy.

He does have some limiting factors as a shooter right now. He’s not a super high volume three-point chucker after taking 6.5 threes per 100 possessions this season. He’ll want to bump up that two or three more in the pros. He’s also not a natural shooter off the dribble yet. He scored 0.90 PPP on dribble jumpers this year, which ranked in the 65th percentile and merely rated as “good” — a rarity on Boozer’s profile.

The pull-up jumper is a superstar skill, and Boozer will need to develop it to reach his highest-end outcomes. It’s also going to be an important counter when he’s not fast enough to beat his man off the dribble. Here’s one example of Boozer ripped a step-back three after his drive was denied against Louisville. If he do this with more consistency, his offensive ceiling is going to be through the roof.

Boozer can drive really well for a 250-pound forward

Boozer’s simple-yet-effective driving is one of the best parts of his game. He can be trusted to run pick-and-roll or attack a smaller defender on isolations, and the threat of his downhill scoring opens up opportunities to make plays as a live dribble passer. While he doesn’t have a ton of counters in the middle of the floor, he can usually rely on his bully ball game to get to the line if all else fails.

When a guard screens for Boozer, he knows how to punish switches by running over smaller defenders. Even without crazy pop off the floor as a leaper, he’s still able to square himself to the basket, and he has the touch to make below-the-rim finishes.

Great rep as a pick-and-roll handler from Cameron Boozer. I want to see him used like this more often: pic.twitter.com/eqVJtxvOUJ

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) December 6, 2025

Boozer made 64.5 percent of his rim attempts this season with 57 percent of them coming unassisted. He doesn’t need to play as a full-time point forward because he’s so good in so many other areas, but he can take on those duties in a pinch if his team needs it.

Boozer is already pretty good at driving and finishing with either hand. He’s not the most agile driver, but he has step-throughs and Eurosteps when he needs them.

Beautiful drive from Cam Boozer pic.twitter.com/KNs0UtA8zl

— FLOOR and CEILING (Wilko) (@wilkomcv) February 16, 2026

Boozer almost never settles from mid-range. He only took 52 two-point attempts all season away from the rim. When he has the ball, he’s going to the hole or kicking out to a teammate to space the floor. You could argue not having a mid-range game hurts Boozer’s NBA translation if he’s expected to be in a star role — the mid-range is said to be the domain of superstars — but non-rim twos are also the least efficient shot any player can take. The fact that he prioritizes a ‘Moreyball’ shot-profile is a wonderful thing for a player this young.

Boozer’s outlet passing will boost transition offense

Boozer has been throwing dimes in transition going back to his high school days. He’s such a dependable defensive rebounder, and when he gets to the ball he’s always looking to hunt for quick-hit opportunities in transition.

One minute of Cameron Boozer outlet passes. His defensive rebounding, passing and grab-and-go abilities will all juice transition offense. pic.twitter.com/1WAzAIUDvV

— Matt Powers (@DraftPow) April 23, 2025

Boozer impacts winning in so many areas

Boozer’s combination of usage, scoring volume, and efficiency at such a young age is a strong star indicator. This year, he scored 40.3 points per 100 possessions on 65.3 percent true shooting with a 30.6 percent usage rate. A team can run their offense through him and reap the rewards, but he can also thrive in an off-ball role as a floor spacer, rebounder, and connective passer.

Boozer is going to be a plus in the possession game. He’s an outstanding rebounder for a power forward on both ends of the floor. His 14.7 percent turnover rate and +1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio aren’t the strongest numbers …. but it’s still better than Dybantsa (15 percent turnover rate with +1.2 assist-to-turnover ratio) while clearing Peterson in A/TO. He got to the foul line more than Dybantsa or Peterson, too.

Boozer is not super long or super athletic. He will allow blow-bys defensively that compromise his team’s structure. He’s going to have some games where he’s not finishing well at the rim in the halfcourt. He’ll probably need to tighten his handle so he doesn’t get picked trying to run over smaller NBA defenders.

Even if you allow for all of that, Boozer is still the best player in the class because when the ball hits his hands, his team gets a good shot. He thinks the game at a high level, he has impressive touch as a shooter from all over the floor, and he plays a physical style that will translate well when the game slows down in the playoffs. He’s able to vacillate between all these roles on the same possession and still maximize his team’s chances of scoring.

This play shows Boozer’s versatility on different play types, his motor to keep hunting an advantage, and his quick processing ability.

MSU defense stops the Boozer drive, he flows into handoff, becomes the roller, throws the short roll lob to Patrick Ngongba, who is undercut and gets free throws pic.twitter.com/6Zs4mrTbN4

— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) December 6, 2025

Boozer is a better shooter than Dybantsa, a better playmaker than Peterson, and a much better rebounder than both. There also might not be a stronger player in this draft class. Even if he’s just hoping to get to average defensively, he still has quick hands and sharp instincts to make some plays on that end. If nothing else, he’s great at ending defensive possessions with a rebound.

The 2026 NBA Draft class is stacked with talent inside the top-4, but Boozer stands alone. Taking anyone else with the top pick will be a regrettable decision.

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