I recently published this article breaking down 12 of the top prospects in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft. However, after it went live, I began conducting further research on other prospects in this class and quickly realized that there was a player who was not one of the 12 I had covered in the previous article, and I had to cover them next.
A player who was really catching my eye, whom I was becoming higher on the more I dug into his film/stats.
A player who I now have ranked no. 13 on my way too early 2026 big board – even though he is not even listed in the top 60 of the recent Hoops Hype aggregate mock draft. Other media outlets that have posted early top 30 or top 60 mock drafts / big boards have not listed him either.
It’s Jacob Furphy.
This article will break down Furphy, his game, and why I’m so high on him.
How Good is Furphy?
To put it in perspective, he was the best player on Australia’s U19 team, which just competed in the FIBA World Cup. He performed significantly better in that tournament than Dash Daniels, who many believe is a lottery pick in the 2026 draft.
In the FIBA U19 tournament, Furphy dropped a team-high 24 points (on 50% from the field) with 4 rebounds and 2 steals vs USA. That was a USA team that had AJ Dybantsa, Tyran Stokes, Mikel Brown Jr, and Koa Peat (who had a game-high 25 points in that game).
Furphy also competed and held his own in the 2024 Basketball Without Borders event, which also featured 2025 draft picks Khaman Maluach, Noa Essengue, Kasparas Jakucionis, and Nolan Traore.
In the recent NBL1, a tournament featuring semi-pro teams in Australia that serves as a pathway to the NBL, Furphy dropped 34 points in one game and 25 in another. He dropped 41 points in a U20 Nationals game.
There was also a recent game where a team of top U18 prospects played against a team of professional grown men from Australia, including Will Hickey, who had just won an NBL championship with the Illawarra Hawks. Furphy was a standout in the game, including some impressive plays when matched up with Hickey.
Now, he’s headed to UConn, where he’s been recruited by coach Dan Hurley, so he must be pretty good.
Overview of Furphy’s Game
Furphy is a wing. He measured 6’5.5″ (in shoes) with a 6’6″ wingspan and a rugged 210 lbs at Basketball Without Borders 2024. He can play the 2 or the 3. He’s even shown the ability to switch onto 4’s and even smaller 5’s at times. Plus, Furphy has shown the ability at times to bring the ball up the floor and run the offense as the PG. So there’s a lot of versatility here. He can kind of play every position on the floor. But he’s mainly a wing, and wings are the most coveted position in the modern NBA.
So Furphy plays the most coveted position. Now, what’s the most coveted skill in the modern NBA? Probably shooting. Furphy can shoot – he’s a good shooting prospect. Not an elite one, but definitely a good one.
What else are NBA teams valuing more these days? I’d say players who can not only shoot, but are also skilled and versatile enough offensively to dribble/pass/shoot, and fit a 4-out or even 5-out offensive system. Furphy checks that box as well.
What else are NBA teams valuing more these days? Feel. Processing. Court mapping. Ability to read the game. Furphy checks that box as well. That’s perhaps the biggest thing that stands out to me when watching film of him. Let’s dive a little bit deeper here..
Coach on the Floor
Let’s watch a video here to illustrate what I mean. In it, we see Furphy barking orders to his teammates, pointing to them and directing traffic.
At one point during a dead ball, he simultaneously looks back at his bench to receive orders from his coach while glancing quickly at the Germany team’s bench to see what their coach is instructing his players to do, then relays the orders to his teammates.
During another part of the video, Furphy looks to his bench at his coach for orders. Then points towards his teammates to direct traffic.
We also see a clip where he’s on the bench. Is he just sitting on the bench watching the game quietly? Of course not. He’s standing up, yelling to teammates, then after a teammate makes a shot, he’s yelling words of encouragement and waving his towel:
That video is just over a minute long, but I could have made it way longer.
I feel like this is quite rare. For an 18-year-old kid to be a coach on the floor like Furphy is. To be barking orders, directing traffic, pointing to teammates, and high-fiving them. Doing this stuff so frequently and all with a purpose. At age 18. And he’s not even a PG – at least, not usually.
This tells me that Furphy really reads the game and understands it at a high level. He is clearly not new to the game of basketball. He strikes me as a player who can pick up new basketball terminology really quickly. He seems like the type of guy who can join a new team (whether it’s UConn, where he’s going to be a freshman this season, or whichever NBA team ends up drafting him) and learn their entire playbook faster than pretty much anybody.
This type of stuff matters. Here’s a clip where Celtics Assistant Coach Matt Reynolds (who is the Head Coach for Boston’s summer league team) is talking about how picking up on terminology is the most important thing that Hugo Gonzalez (who the Celtics just drafted 28th overall) will have to learn to help with his transition to the NBA:
Now let’s dig more into Furphy’s game..
Shooting
First, let’s look at some stats. Now, Furphy’s shooting numbers from the FIBA U19 tournament that just wrapped up don’t jump off the page (he shot 31.4% from 3 and 73.3% from the FT line), but that’s a small 7-game sample.
Let’s dig deeper. Taking a closer look at his shooting numbers from FIBA U19, we see the 3PA volume is very high. He took 7.3 3PA per game, which equates to 8.5 3PA per 40 minutes. Again, that’s high volume. And 3PA volume is a good indicator of shooting projection, especially for players who are only 18 years old. Suppose you’re that young and haven’t even stepped on a college campus yet, and you’re comfortable enough with your shot to take that many 3’s, while going against the top players in the world from your age group (facing teams like the US, Germany, Canada, and France), chances are. In that case, you’re going to be a good shooter.
Let’s also factor in his role and his usage with the Australia U19 squad. He was a high usage guy, handled the ball a lot. Furphy averaged 16.4 FGA per game, which was the highest on his team. He had to self-create a lot of the 3s he took. These weren’t just a bunch of open catch-and-shoot looks from the corner. So that factors into the 3 FG%.It would’ve been higher with an easier shot diet and if he were a lower usage guy.
Next, let’s expand the data sample since again, 7 games is a very small sample:
If we expand the same size even more and include all 42 of Furphy’s FIBA games that RealGM has data for, dating back to June 2022:
39% from 3 on 4.1 3PA/game, 75.5% FT.
Especially when we factor in that some of those 42 games are from 2022, when Furphy was only 15 years old, these shooting numbers are very high.
Now, let’s look at some film of his jump shot.
Here’s some clips. We’re seeing movement shooting. That’s the hardest kind of shot to hit – the most impressive kind. Guys who can hit 3’s off movement are typically the better shooting prospects – especially if they can do it at a young age (like at age 18, which Furphy is) and have decent size (Furphy is 6’5”).
Furphy has a smooth energy transfer on his jump shots. He has some pure swishes where the ball barely touches the net. His shot mechanics are smooth. The release point is good – it’s high but not too high. He shoots it with confidence, is able to hit shots over tight contests, and has a pretty quick release as well. He’s also able to relocate well and find open spots on the floor off-ball.
Here, Furphy gets the ball way out on the perimeter. The shot clock is down to 4. He doesn’t just panic and throw up a wild shot in a rush to try and beat the shot clock. He stays calm, takes 1 dribble into a smooth and confident pull-up 3, hitting it over a contest by Germany big man prospect Hannes Steinbach. This 3 cut the German lead to just 4 points in the 4th quarter. This is the type of shot we have seen guys like Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young, and James Harden hit.
Here’s a few more clips showing Furphy’s jumper, including a play where he creates a ton of space with a step-back move:
Driving Craft
Furphy is also effective as a driver. I’m generally not a fan of player comps because they usually oversimplify scouting, ignore the nuance of the game, and the subtle differences between players who, for the most part, are very unique. But some of the stuff I see on film in terms of a 6’5”/6’6” guard/wing who doesn’t have elite burst or vertical pop is still able to pressure the rim, carve out space, get to his spots and finish near the basket (and how advanced he is at this stuff at age 18) kind of reminds me of Dylan Harper.
What Furphy lacks in athleticism, he makes up for with skill, craft, and feel. He’s got good handles, he can change speeds, change direction, he reads his defender, reads the floor, has a good understanding of angles and how to use them (along with timing) to get to his spots and finish near the basket.
Look at this play. Doesn’t this kind of look like a play we’ve seen from Dylan Harper? First, we see the patience Furphy shows when he has the ball up top. He surveys the floor and reads the defense before making his move, rather than rushing it and making a poor decision. Furphy sees he has a driving lane, so he goes for it, gets the defender on his hip, feels a little bit of contact, so leans into the defender as he flips the ball up towards the hoop to draw the foul. It’s very subtle the way he leans into the defender, though – so the foul goes on the defender, not him:
Here’s another play that is Harper-esque. Again, he’s patient when surveying the floor, planning, and executing his move. He shows good craft with the hostage dribble, uses that craft along with his size, strength, and playing with pace to maneuver his way to the basket and draw the foul:
Here’s some more drives, including a really impressive one where he flips it in with his off hand (he’s a lefty, of course) over the outstretched arm of a defender from team USA:
One more driving clip. Here, Furphy brings the ball up the floor, reads the defense, and decides to attack the basket before the opposing team has their defense set. He makes a good, strong move attacking the basket, a strong finish over a bigger defender.
These types of finishes (over much bigger defenders) are an example of how certain players are able to score at the rim without great athleticism (or even elite size). They do it with good touch and craft, they know how to use angles, timing, deceleration, etc. Guys like Payton Pritchard, Kon Knueppel, Andrew Nembhard, Austin Reaves, Jalen Brunson, and Jimmy Butler make moves and finishes like this all the time – without great athleticism or elite size.
More driving clips here. In these ones we see a nice hesitation dribble move as well as Furphy’s ability to set his defender up, change speeds and get to his spots, despite the limited burst/explosiveness:
Passing
Furphy is more of a score-first type of guard/wing. But he is a good passer as well. Here’s some clips where he’s able to make a good pocket pass to the roll man. There’s also some solid passes where he simply keeps the offense flowing and act as a connector – rather than a ball stopper:
Cutting
Furphy is also a good cutter, as we see in these clips. The clip is one I really like. We see a lot in this one sequence. First, we see Furphy matched up defensively vs AJ Dybantsa (potential no. 1 pick in 2026 draft); he does a good job defensively, forcing Dybantsa into a tough shot. Then Furphy hustles and saves the ball from going out of bounds. Then he makes a good hit-ahead pass to push the ball up the floor. Then he cuts to the open space near the free throw line and makes a tough finish at the rim vs a bigger defender.
Rebounding
Furphy is also active and scrappy on the boards. Here’s some clips, including a really impressive rebound vs USA where there’s like 5 guys (mostly USA players) all going up for the rebound, yet Furphy times it perfectly and is able to jump up, secure the board, and make the shot:
Defense
Most of the sell with Furphy is on the offensive end. As you can tell at this point, he is very skilled offensively (in terms of dribble/pass/shoot) for an 18-year-old kid. Defensively, the hope is that long term in the NBA, he’ll be a league-average defender, with the chance he could even be slightly above average on D.
Furphy only has a 6’6″ wingspan. And of course, he isn’t the most athletic player in the world – he recorded just a 28.5″ max vertical leap at the 2024 Basketball Without Borders. He’s not the quickest, the most athletic, or the tallest prospect you’ll find. There are some defensive limitations.
With that being said, there are plenty of encouraging plays in Furphy’s defensive tape. What he lacks in some of the physical tools, he makes up for with smarts, instincts, effort, timing, tenacity, strength, and positioning.
On this play from Basketball Without Borders, the opposing team gets out in transition and thinks they will have an easy bucket. Not so fast. Furphy hustles back on defense. The offensive player changes directions to try and fake Furphy out, but it doesn’t work – Furphy turns with him and blocks the shot at the rim. Plus, as he blocks it, the ball goes off the offensive player, out of bounds:
Here we see some strong off ball defense. Furphy is two passes away here so he’s in the paint, like he’s supposed to be. He’s able to see both the ball and his man. He’s also pointing and talking on defense. He reads the play a mile away – knows that Christian Anderson is going to try and drive it to the basket. He then times his jump perfectly, walls up and forces the missed shot. Textbook defense.
Here’s some more solid defense by Furphy, both on ball and off ball:
Weaknesses
This part is pretty straightforward. At this point, you can tell that the main weakness is athleticism and some of the physical tools. A 6’6″ wingspan and 6’5.5″ (in shoes) isn’t great wing size (basically the same measurements as Kon Knueppel, though – the 4th pick in the 2025 NBA Draft). However, Knueppel recorded a 36.5″ maximum vertical leap at the 2025 draft combine, whereas Furphy had a 28.5″ max vert at the 2024 Basketball Without Borders.
Furphy simply is not the fast mover out there, relative to his size/position. He’s not the most vertically explosive. Not the tallest or longest wingspan. These are limitations we have to acknowledge, which (along with factoring in how good some of the other prospects are in this class), I can’t put Furphy in the top 10 on my big board for the 2026 draft at this point.
However, I think that athleticism / physical tools are kind of becoming overrated when it comes to NBA performance. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t have elite athleticism. Neither does Jimmy Butler, Jrue Holiday, Austin Reaves, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, Payton Pritchard, Tyrese Haliburton, Lamelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Trae Young, Andrew Nembhard, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic.
Meanwhile, Yoan Makoundou was a freak athlete when he was eligible for the draft, but got undrafted and has played in 0 NBA games. Juhann Begarin is very athletic. But he got drafted in the 2nd round and has yet to play a single game in the NBA. KJ Martin has struggled to carve out a role and stick in the NBA. So has Jaden Springer, likewise for Greg Brown and Hamidou Diallo.
Terrance Davis was much more athletic than Jared McCain, but I think every NBA team would take McCain over Davis. Joe Ingles (with suspect athleticism) has had a better NBA career than Nassir Little (the freak athlete).
Athleticism and physical tools matter, but let’s not factor them in too much. Skill matters. So does craft, so does feel, basketball IQ, court awareness, work ethic, strength, timing, understanding of angles, understanding of defensive coverages, etc.
Furphy might not have the best athleticism. But I think he’s got a case as the guy in the 2026 draft class who plays the hardest, who’s the most competitive, and has the highest basketball IQ.
Another factor that could play into Furphy’s draft stock is his role on the team at UConn for this upcoming season. According to various online sources, the Huskies’ projected starting lineup is Silas Demary Jr, Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart, or Braylon Mullins at the 3, Alex Karaban, and Tarris Reed Jr at the 5. So, Furphy is not projected to start, and rumor has it that he will have to battle for minutes off the bench with a couple of other players.
Between the limitations of his athleticism and physical tools, and the uncertainty surrounding his role and playing time at UConn, the highest I could rank him on my board at this point is 13th, which is where he currently stands. He could drop further than that if it appears his role with the Huskies will be particularly small.
However, I trust my evaluation of Furphy. I trust what I see on film of him. The way he plays: the basketball IQ, the competitiveness, the ball skills, the craft, the touch. I still think he’s a lottery pick.
If it were my call, UConn’s starting 5 would be: Demary Jr, Ball, Furphy at the 3, Karban, and Reed Jr.
Furphy is good enough to start for that team, in my opinion. Last season, UConn struggled a bit (compared to the previous 2 seasons) partly because they lacked enough scoring punch. They relied heavily on guys like Diarra, McNeeley, Karaban, Ball, and Mahaney to score, create offense, and handle the ball – they didn’t get enough of those things from that group. I think that Furphy could help with that.
I think Furphy might start the season slow as he adjusts to the American style of play and the pace and athleticism of the NCAA, but should get better as the season goes on.
He might end up being a multi-year college player, but in the long run, I do think Furphy could end up being a top 15 player from the 2026 draft class.
Role Projection
At the NBA level, Furphy projects as an off-ball wing who can space the floor and hit shots, including movement shooting if you need him to do that. He’s a smart, high feel, high IQ player who can be a ball mover rather than a ball stopper.
Furphy could also provide some secondary ball handling and secondary playmaking.
I think it’s possible for him to eventually be an average defender with the slight chance of being a plus defender.
NBA teams always need wings. They always need shooting. They always need competitors who play unselfish, team basketball – who make the right basketball play. I think there’s a spot in the league (eventually) for Furphy.
He likely won’t be a star but I think there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be a solid role player.
Wrapping it Up
Okay, that’s it. I’ve got nothing else. I think this article is already pretty in-depth, especially since it’s just the summer time prior to Furphy’s pre-draft season. The season doesn’t even start for a few more months, and there’s a long way to go until next year’s draft.
Still, Furphy has really caught my attention when I’ve been doing initial evaluations of this draft class. So I wanted to do a piece on him. Hope you enjoyed it!
Oh, and one other thing – since I know some of ya’ll are wondering. No, Jacob Furphy is not Johnny Furphy’s brother. They are distant cousins.
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