The way the mocks have it now, Arizonaβs Azuolas Tubelis will be one of those guys sweating it out toward the end of the NBA Draft on June 22.
Maybe heβll get picked. Maybe he wonβt. Maybe heβll sign as a free agent. Maybe heβll sign a two-way contract between the G League and NBA.
Or maybe, if Tubelis plays and tests well enough at the NBA Combine this week, heβll be able to sit back and enjoy the evening, knowing heβs certain to be taken somewhere among the draftβs 58 spots.
Tubelis is one of 78 players participating in the combine, plus another eight or so who were invited after playing well during the lower-level G League Elite Camp last weekend.
Held at Chicagoβs Wintrust Arena, the combine measures playersβ skills and body measurements while shuttling them around for private interviews with team executives and placing those who volunteer to play in five-on-five scrimmages. It isnβt yet known publicly to what extent Tubelis will take part in the combine, but he did run through the opening drills held Monday.
Typically, it can be risky for a big man to play in five-on-fives because guards tend to dominate the ball, but Tubelis has a unique set of skills, able to hold his own physically inside while also running and passing well for his 6-foot-10 size.
As of now, though, those skills β and a junior season in which he earned consensus second-team all-American honors β may not be enough to ensure Tubelis will be selected in the draft.
Among the major βbest availableβ boards of draft prospects, Tubelis ranked No. 68 by ESPN, No. 55 by CBS, No. 62 by NBA Draft Room and No. 73 by The Athletic. The Ringer did not have Tubelis among the only 40 players it listed.
Of the major two-round mock drafts entering this week, Yahoo had Tubelis at No. 46 while USA Today put him at No. 56. He was not listed in mocks by SI.com and Bleacher Report.
While official statistics werenβt available remotely from the first day of testing Monday, Tubelis appeared on the Wintrust Arena board among the top nine leaders in the side-mid-side shooting drill but not in several others that were posted to Twitter by NBA Big Boardβs Rafael Barlowe.
Tubelis shot 53.3% in the side-mid-side drill, tying for second as of Monday afternoon, but did not appear among the leaders in β3-point star drillβ (variety of 3s off movement), spot-up shooting, three-quarter court sprint, pro lane drills as well as maximum (running) and no-step vertical leaps. Barloweβs posts showed Tubelis shot 36.0% in spot-up shooting and 28.0% in the 3-point star drill.
Player testing will continue on Tuesday, while five-on-five scrimmages are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Players are also scheduled for individual interviews with teams during the week.
While Tubelis is expected to stay in the NBA Draft pool, he has not declared his intentions formally. If he decides to return to school next season, he will have until May 31 to withdraw.
βZu has a right to approach this any way he wants to,β UA coach Tommy Lloyd said last month. βHeβs been an awesome dude thatβs served our program incredibly well. Weβre lucky to have had him, and if we get him back another year, weβll be lucky to do that. But weβre gonna let him go through his process and make the decision he feels (is) best for him.β
Larsson out of G League Elite Camp
Already expected to return to Arizona next season, Swedish wing Pelle Larsson pulled out of the G League Elite Camp last weekend.
Larsson declared for the NBA Draft last month and had been invited to the G League event, but the NBA confirmed to the Star on Monday he did not participate.
The Pac-12βs Sixth Man of the Year in 2012-22, Larsson split last season as a starter and key reserve, averaging 27.4 minutes while becoming the Wildcatsβ fifth-leading scorer (9.3 points per game) and arguably their best defender. He also spent last summer playing for Swedenβs senior national team.
According to ESPNβs Jonathan Givony, eight standouts from the G League Elite Camp were invited to participate in the NBA Combine, including Princeton βpoint-forwardβ Tosan Evbuomwan, who had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the Tigersβ upset win over UA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 16.
Other UA targets at camps
Several potential UA recruiting targets who have also entered the transfer portal have been a part of the G League and NBA camps.
Former Tennessee forward Olivier Nkamhoua, a 6-9 power forward from Finland, played in the G League Elite Camp but was not invited to the combine.
Among the NBA Combine participants is Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma, who chose the Bluejays over the Wildcats out of Glendale Dream City two years ago, and North Dakota State big man Grant Nelson. According to 24/7 High School Hoops, UA is one of 18 programs who have reached out to Nelson in the event that he stays in college.
Michigan State tip time set
The Arizona-Michigan State matchup next season has been set for 2:30 p.m. Tucson Time on Thanksgiving Day at Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California.
The game will be televised on Fox after its NFL coverage of Green Bay at Detroit.
Tickets are scheduled to go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. via acrisurearena.com and ticketmaster.com, as well as at the UA, MSU and Acrisure box offices.
Called the βAcrisure Classic,β the Arizona-MSU game will be technically part of a four-team event in which Arizona is also scheduled to host a low-major opponent β to be named β on Nov. 19. It will serve as UAβs βmulti-team eventβ for 2023-24 after the Wildcats pulled out of the Wooden Legacy field.
Wasserman to represent Henderson
The Wasserman agency group posted a graphic to social media welcoming Cedric Henderson to βTeam Wass,β indicating its basketball division will represent the departing UA forward.
A fifth-year grad transfer who arrived from Campbell last summer, Henderson isnβt considered an NBA Draft prospect but is a versatile combo forward who averaged 8.1 points while shooting 46.2% overall and 40.2% from 3-point range for the Wildcats last season.