The second round of the 2026 NBA Draft saw 29 of the 30 selections involve traded picks, with the Toronto Raptors making the sole exception for Jaden Bradley.
Second-round picks in the modern NBA are often better as trade assets than the actual players the teams might draft, which has led to all but one second-round pick being the result of trades.
The Raptors chose to honor their natural selection order to pick up a 22-year-old point guard from the Arizona Wildcats in Bradley.
Jaden Bradley brings a winning pedigree to the Raptors
Bradley is a 6-foot-3 senior guard from Arizona who averaged 13.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals as a senior. Bradley won Big 12 Player of the Year, Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and received Big 12 All-Defensive honors.
He’s a win-now player who will help fill the Raptors bench out behind the likes of Immanuel Quickley and Jamal Shead. He’s the only second-round pick in this class to go to the team that drafted him without the pick being involved in any prior trades.
Bradley’s defensive skills fit perfectly into the Raptors’ style of play, which might make him a contender for rotational minutes early in the season. He joins Santa Clara forward Allen Graves as the two players in the Raptors’ rookie class so far.
It makes sense that the Raptors held onto their pick, considering a player like Bradley was available, filling an obvious roster need as a seasoned rookie who will be expected to be impactful on a Playoff-caliber team.
2026 NBA Draft second-round breakdown shows a trade trail
The trade market over the last few years had a significant impact on the 2026 NBA Draft’s second round, as multiple picks like No. 32 (Richie Saunders), which belonged to the Indiana Pacers but was conveyed to the Memphis Grizzlies as a result of past deals. 13 of the 29 remaining picks (32, 33, 36, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 54, 58, 59) had already switched owners before draft night.
Some picks were actively moved during the draft. This includes deals like the ones made by the New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, and LA Clippers involving the picks around Nos. 31, 39, 53, and 55. More draft-day deals saw the Thunder and Heat swap at Nos. 37 and 41, and the Magic-Wizards-Bucks swap at Nos. 46, 51, and 60.
This led to 16 players being traded on draft night itself (31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 46, 47, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 60), a huge number which makes it hard for fans to track who’s headed where.
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