Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis has promising opportunity with 76ers after going undrafted

When his name didn’t pop up on the final slots of the NBA Draft board on Thursday, Azuolas Tubelis didn’t feel a surge of disappointment, frustration or anguish.

Not the way UA coach Tommy Lloyd described it, at least. After sitting with Tubelis in Tucson during the draft on Thursday night, Lloyd said the Lithuanian forward basically celebrated the fact that he was instead able to agree to a two-way free agent contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Trust me, there was zero disappointment in the room when his name didn’t get called because obviously he knew what opportunity he had,” Lloyd said. “He was extremely grateful and extremely happy.”

The two-way contract could wind up paying Tubelis over $500,000 while giving the Sixers the right to shuttle him back and forth between the NBA and their G League affiliate in Delaware. It also might represent a significant opportunity for Tubelis to spend time in the NBA as a rookie, since the Sixers did not have a selection in Thursday’s draft after trading away their first-round pick and losing their second-rounder as a penalty for tampering.

Instead of acquiring another pick somehow, the Sixers waited until the 58-player draft was over and signed Tubelis, N.C. State guard Terquavion Smith and Arkansas forward Ricky Council IV to two-way contracts, while also adding former ASU forward Marcus Bagley via a lower-tier Exhibit 10 deal.

In today’s NBA Draft, signing a two-way deal with the club of a player’s choice is often viewed as better than being picked in the second half of the second round, where players typically don’t get guaranteed contracts and are sometimes stashed overseas, with their NBA rights held by one team.

All that, plus the fact that second-round picks are separated by only two minutes, makes for a frenetic behind-the-scenes environment at the end of draft night.

“The back half of that second round is crazy,” Lloyd said. “They should probably do a ‘30 for 30,’ or a documentary on it. (There are) agents calling players and asking them, ‘If they draft you, would you be willing to be stashed?’ And then agents are telling teams, `Don’t draft him here because we think we got a two-way.’

“It’s just a lot of moving parts. So with a bit of time to go in the draft, I think Zu knew he had that in his back pocket, and that’s what he wanted to do. That’s what they pursued.”

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News of the deal surfaced in the first 15 minutes after the draft, first when The Athletic’s Shams Charania cited unnamed sources saying Tubelis would sign a two-way deal. Tubelis’ agent, Greg Lawrence, later confirmed it to the Star.

The Sixers, however, did not announce Tubelis’ addition Friday and aren’t expected to officially until his contract is signed.

Having to go the free agent route as a more traditional big man, even one with well-regarded quickness and offensive efficiency, is another new feature in today’s NBA Draft. ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony ranked Tubelis eighth among players not taken in the draft, while college basketball analyst Jay Biles noted how many of college basketball’s star big men — such as Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Tubelis — were not drafted because of how the NBA now deploys post players.

“The game has changed, and it’s more of a perimeter game,” Bilas said. “If you can’t shoot it, it’s going to be a long night for you.”

But Lloyd said Tubelis still might have “another jump in his game” that could allow him to make a career in the NBA.

“He has a knack for getting stuff done, whether it’s in the paint, the basket, transition,” Lloyd said. “Zu might not be the guy initiating everything or making all the highlights or making a bunch of jump shots, but he’s kind of the receiving end of a lot of those plays. He can just catch the ball and lay it up, and there’s a value in that. That’s a lot harder to do than people think.

“And the way he runs the floor, I think he creates these opportunities for himself and his teammates.. But like a lot of these guys, now the real challenge is in front of you. You’ve got to go at that level with the best players in the world, and you’ve got to make it happen. I’m excited to see Zu’s journey.”

Although the Wildcats have not had a player taken in three of the past five NBA Drafts, they had three draftees each in 2020 and 2022. Josh Green (18), Zeke Nnaji (22) and Nico Mansion (48) went in 2020, while Bennedict Mathurin (6), Dalen Terry (18) and Christian Koloko (33) were taken last year.

UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez was the Pac-12’s only first-round pick in Thursday’s draft, while the conference also had three second-round picks: Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye (39th to Charlotte), UCLA’s Amari Bailey (41st to Charlotte) and UCLA’s Jaylen Clark (53rd to Minnesota).