New Man on Campus: Mikel Brown Jr.

Mikel Brown Jr. has all the tools to be a crucial contributor to the Louisville Cardinals and the best point guard in the 2026 NBA Draft.

One of the most difficult positions to adjust to as you scale up in competition level is point guard. We constantly see guys struggle not only transitioning to the NBA but also to college play. There are so many demands on that position now, where you have to be able to shoot, pass, get to the rim, control tempo, and not make mistakes. Oh, and now it’s even tougher because of the requisite size and athleticism demands on the position. It’s brutal. However, every now and then, there are guys who look like they’re more than ready to play winning basketball. One of those point guards for the 2026 NBA Draft class is Louisville’s new man on campus: Mikel Brown Jr.

Brown ended up as ESPN’s eighth-ranked high school recruit this year, and that’s already looking like it is far too low. Brown had a good senior season at DME Sports Academy, but his recent surge up draft boards is largely due to his play at Nike Hoop Summit and with Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup. Over the past year, Brown has improved significantly month after month.

Brown was originally listed as 6’3” and 175 pounds, but Louisville has him listed at 6’5” and 180 pounds. Now I know a college program would never inflate the measurements for their players… but Brown does look a little bigger than he did at the start of his season with DME. It’d be awesome if Brown ends up measuring in at 6’5”, but even if he doesn’t, it doesn’t really matter because his game speaks for itself.

There is a lot to love about Brown’s game, but one of the biggest selling points is his shooting versatility. Louisville has a ton of backcourt talent this year between Adrian Wooley, Ryan Conwell, Isaac McKneely, Kobe Rodgers, and J’Vonne Hadley, so minutes are going to be earned, not given. An easy way to do that is by being malleable, especially with scoring. Thankfully, we’ve already seen Brown dominate as the guy and also play alongside other stars/primary creators. Quick disclaimer (so I don’t have to mention it multiple times), but the Synergy numbers that’ll be referenced going forward only account for six games with DME Academy and seven games with Team USA. They’re smaller sample sizes, so take them with a grain of salt. The point is more to show styles, trends, and habits rather than complete confirmation of something.

At DME, Brown was the point guard and primary creator. In those games, we saw exactly what we’d hope to see from a dynamic on-ball scorer. Brown ranked in the 94th percentile in frequency of isolation possessions and ranked in the 94th percentile in points per possession (PPP). Additionally, Brown ranked in the 96th percentile for PPP on pull-up jumpers, 71st percentile in pull-up jumper frequency (57.8%), and shot 45.7% from three on pull-up jumpers. Brown has incredibly deep range and is essentially a threat once he crosses halfcourt.

While most of Brown’s jumpers came in on-ball situations at DME, he still showed flashes of being a dynamic off-ball shooter as he ranked in the 72nd percentile spotting up and the 92nd percentile running off screens, both on low volume. With Team USA, though, Brown was significantly more effective as an off-ball shooter while streakier as an on-ball shooter. With Team USA, Brown shot 69.6% from three off the catch (16-23) and just 22.2% off the bounce (4-18). In games where he couldn’t find his range as the primary creator, he was more than happy to give up those reins and shift his game to being more of an off-ball complementary player.

The biggest, and only, question with Brown’s outside shooting is how consistent his pull-up game will be. When he misses, he tends to miss badly. I’m not too concerned, though. Brown has already shown the maturity, versatility, and awareness to pivot more to an off-ball role when he needs to. Also, as he gets stronger, these wild misses should start to calm down. With Louisville specifically next season, Brown has already proven that he is malleable enough to not only play but dominate in both an on-ball and off-ball role.

While Brown’s outside shooting should get fans very excited, there are other areas of the floor that he’ll have to prove he can score in. Brown is a solid midrange shooter, but there are questions that start arising as he gets closer to the rim. At DME, Brown ranked in just the third percentile in at-rim PPP and shot 31.3% in the halfcourt. Those numbers are brutal, but it never felt like Brown was that bad around the rim.

Obviously, the results are what they are, but Brown’s process and shot creation felt largely encouraging. He didn’t shy away from contact and has good scoring touch. The issue really just felt like a strength one. With DME, Brown was pretty lean and didn’t have overwhelming burst. This resulted in him really struggling to finish through contact. When we look at his numbers on drives, though, Brown shot just 48.1% but scored 1.216 PPP on 37 drives (for comparison, Dylan Harper scored 1.231 PPP and shot 57.1% on 26 drives in his final year at Don Bosco Prep). Not comparing the players; just the roles as on-ball creators. Despite struggling to finish consistently at the rim, Brown’s craft, handle, and acceptance of physicality still allowed him to draw a foul and get to the line on 29.7% of his drives. What all of those numbers tell us is that Brown’s process and mentality are in a great spot, but that his physical strength is still catching up.

Thankfully, we’re already seeing massive strides. With Team USA, his numbers were better but still nothing to get thrilled about, as he ranked in the 38th percentile and shot 41.7% in the halfcourt. While Brown still has a long way to go physically, we can already see marked improvement. He looks a little bulkier, has a tighter handle, a quicker first step, and more bounce around the rim. It wouldn’t be shocking at all if Brown continued to struggle around the rim this season with Louisville, but the fact that we’re seeing him develop this quickly physically is really encouraging for what he could look like by the end of the season—let alone a few years from now.

Brown’s continued physical development is crucial for his scoring, but also for his playmaking. Brown is already one of the most dynamic and creative playmakers in this draft class, and a lot of his prowess derives from his rim pressure and shooting gravity. With Brown’s shooting range from outside, defenders can’t go under screens. By forcing them to go over screens 25+ feet away from the rim, Brown affords himself a more prominent runway to attack downhill. In these situations, he’s already displaying an adeptness at putting defenders in jail and implementing high-level footwork to evade help defenders. It’s a fun blend of quickness and physicality that a lot of players don’t have at this stage.

Scaling up as an on-ball creator from high school to college to the NBA is incredibly difficult. There are some painfully high thresholds that players have to break through, and being able to consistently create advantages and put defenders on their heels is one of those. We’re already seeing Brown do that on a possession-by-possession basis. Creating an advantage is one thing, but exploiting and capitalizing on it is something else entirely. Well, except for Brown; his passing vision, accuracy, and creativity are already ahead of schedule. Brown does a tremendous job of quickly mapping the floor and delivering passes from unique angles. He’s comfortable passing with both hands and has no issues setting up interior or perimeter scorers. It just depends on what rotation the defense decides to make.

The vast majority of Brown’s selling point is how well-rounded he is on offense, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some intriguing upside with his defense. At DME, Brown had some occasional possessions where he was a pest on the ball or made a really nice rotation. However, a lot of it felt pretty underwhelming as he was more reactive and lacked the strength to really impede ball-handlers. It wasn’t necessarily bad, just an overwhelming amount of “meh” to it.

His defense with Team USA felt very different, though. All of the physical improvements from earlier also showed up. However, there also seemed to be a substantial shift in his mentality and execution of fundamentals. He was quicker to cut off drives, consistently defended with his chest, bumped guys off their driving lines, turned defense into offense, and showed some explosive defensive playmaking. If Brown can continue to defend with a similar sentiment all season at Louisville, his “improvement area” section on the draft guide may end up pretty sparse.

The 2026 NBA Draft has three freshman studs at the very top, but after them, it gets pretty sparse. Mikel Brown Jr. is rapidly emerging as that fourth guy, though, almost in a tier of his own. With Louisville, Brown should have ample opportunities to show his offensive versatility with his shooting, scoring, and playmaking. Brown shouldn’t have to carry the offensive load like he did in high school, which should allow him to divert more energy to the defensive end of the floor like we saw with Team USA. All young point guards inevitably go through a rough patch, and I doubt that Brown will be immune to one. However, his ability to play on or off the ball and impact winning without scoring should help lessen the severity of those low points. Louisville should be in for a big year, and Mikel Brown Jr. being one of the most well-rounded guards in the country will be a big reason why.