Acuff Selected in NBA First Round by the Kings

June 23, 2026

Darius Acuff Jr Bio/Stats Darius Acuff Jr Bio/Stats (PDF)

FAYETTEVILLE – Razorback Darius Acuff Jr. was selected in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft Tuesday night. The Detroit native was picked by the Sacramento Kings as the seventh overall selection.

He is the 48th Razorback taken in the NBA Draft – the 17th first-round pick – and the 63rd John Calipari-coached player selected – 44th first-rounder.

Also, with Acuff going seventh overall, Coach Cal now has 30 all-time Lottery picks, passing Mike Krzyzewski for the most by any collegiate coach.

Acuff is the eighth Razorback Lottery pick and the 30th Cal-coached player. The Detroit native arguably had the best season in SEC history and is the most decorated Razorback for a single season. Among his highlights are:

being a unanimous first team All-America.
winning the Bob Cousy Award winner.
being a finalist for the Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy for National Player of the Year.
earning SEC Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year and SEC Tournament MVP.
setting an SEC record with 8 weekly honors, including a record 7 Freshman of the Week honors and 1 SEC Player of the Week honor.
setting Arkansas single-season records for most points (845) and most assists (232). His 845 points rank 9th on the SEC single-season list and his 232 assists rank 9th (tied) on the SEC single-season list making him the only player to be on the SEC single-season top lists for points and assists.
joining Pete Maravich as the only players in SEC History to lead the league in scoring and assists in the same season.
averaging 23.47 points/gm to rank 3rd in the NCAA and 6.44 assist/gm to rank 14th in the NCAA.
being the only player in the NCAA to average 20 pts & 6 assists and was just 1 of 4 players in the NCAA to shoot at least 48% from the field (18.4%) and 44% from 3PT (44.0%).
closing the season as the hottest player in college basketball, earning the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Month in February and March. Acuff played in 14 games over the two-month span, averaging 28.4 points and 6.8 assists while shooting 48.3% from 3-point range. He scored at least 20 points in 13 of the 14 games (scoring 17 in the other), including five 30-point games and his 49-point game at Alabama.

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