The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NBA Draft.The Atlanta Hawks selected Kingston Flemings with the No. 8 pick on Tuesday in the NBA Draft. Flemings averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game in his one season with the Houston Cougars.Flemings has enough size to play at the NBA lead guard role, at 6 feet 2.5 inches without shoes with a 6-foot-3.5 wingspan. More importantly, though, he has a powerful, stocky frame at 183 pounds that allows him to absorb contact and be physical on the interior. He doesn’t get bumped off his lines on offense when he drives and doesn’t have issues when he gets hit while in the air. He is a tremendous athlete; extremely explosive and twitchy with a lightning-quick first step that allows him to drive in straight lines toward the rim.Right now, Flemings’ midrange game is his most effective, efficient weapon in half-court settings. However, it’s hard to live like that in the NBA, given that the best midrange shooters only make about 50 percent of their attempts.Sam Vecenie’s draft guide summaryWhy Kingston Flemings is the point guard NBA teams dream ofSam VecenieI want to love Flemings, and I think there is undeniably All-Star upside if his development goes right. The intel on Flemings as a human being is strong, and he seems to have a full understanding of what his role will be at the next level, as well as what he needs to work on. He was productive and efficient offensively in what was not an ideal circumstance for his skill set as a driver and athlete at Houston this season. He was rightfully named an All-American as a freshman while playing for Kelvin Sampson, one of the toughest coaches in the country on young players. With more space to operate in the NBA, there’s a chance that he will flourish.