With Tobe Awaka on the rise, Arizona could put 4 Wildcats into NBA Draft this week

His job sometimes is also to take head coach Tommy Lloyd back into the program’s history, well beyond when Lloyd took over the Wildcats in 2021. Like the time a quarter-century ago, when Murphy was a student manager, and four Wildcats were taken in the 2001 NBA Draft.

It could happen again this week, if Brayden Burries, Koa Peat, Jaden Bradley and possibly Tobe Awaka all get taken in the two-round NBA Draft, which starts Tuesday. Wing Anthony Dell’Orso is also a candidate for a two-way contact between the NBA and G League, with an outside shot to also be picked in the second round.

“Murph’s my historian for Arizona basketball,” Lloyd said. “He told me 2001 is the only time it’s happened for Arizona. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves — these guys have actually got to get drafted — but the feedback we're getting is really positive.”

That includes the buzz over Awaka, who didn’t start as a senior for the Wildcats’ Final Four team last season, but excelled with a singular skill in rebounding that has turned scouts’ heads. With a combination of ferocity and intelligence, knowing exactly where the ball will be and how to cleanly mow down anyone in his way, Awaka led the nation with an eye-popping 20.1% offensive rebounding percentage.

In other words, for every five shots the Wildcats missed when Awaka was on the floor, he picked up one of them — and sometimes put it back in himself.

Even though Awaka is just 6-8, that skill and the 260 pounds he knows how to throw around just might translate to a role in the NBA. Awaka wasn’t on any major mock drafts after the Wildcats’ season ended, and opted not to play in NBA Combine scrimmages, but nevertheless has been popping into major mock drafts in recent weeks as a late second-round possibility.

“We've been hearing great things about Tobe, a lot of interest, from a lot of decision makers,” Lloyd said earlier this month. “I think these NBA evaluations kind of happen in cycles where scouts and agents and media are kind of driving the narrative, and then eventually it gets handed into up to the decision makers — the general managers, the head coaches — and you can see certain guys can gain momentum once those guys get involved.

“I think we're seeing that with both Tobe and JB. They're both getting a lot of momentum.”

While the NBA Draft is often about potential — which can result in older players being downgraded because they are judged to have moved closer to their ceilings — Awaka and Bradley are both four-year veterans of college basketball who might be able to carve out roles immediately in the NBA. Bradley likely as a backup point guard, the sort of role he played as a UA sophomore in 2023-24, and Awaka as a rebounding specialist inside.

But both have challenges: Bradley has more to prove offensively after deferring offensively to teammates Caleb Love, Burries and Kylan Boswell over the past three seasons, while Awaka isn’t known for working too far away from the basket on either side of the court.

Awaka "can get you extra possessions (by rebounding), he's big and strong, and he can hold his own,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. “The game's a little bit different now, so at that four or five spot (center or power forward), you may be guarding on the perimeter more than you were expected to do years ago.

“But he's got value, and I think he's most likely going to be taken in the second round.”

Lloyd said NBA teams have shown interest in Awaka not only because of his rebounding but also the potential he has shown to hold his own in other areas.

“They invest heavily in their own development stash,” Lloyd said. “Tobe's game has come so long and so far in so many ways that I think teams are seeing that he has like a real skill that you can count on, and obviously that's his rebounding, his effort.

“But he's a really good defensive player, so why wouldn't they invest a little bit in helping him continue to involve his offense? His offense has really developed, his shooting, which would surprise a lot of people — probably to the point where they thought I was crazy that he didn't shoot a lot of 3s.”

Bilas said Bradley will also bring value as a potential second round pick, a guy who has improved his game every season, from his freshman season at Alabama in 2022-23, to a backup role as a sophomore at Arizona in 2023-24, to a starting role in 2024-25 and becoming the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2025-26.

“That raised some questions with some people, but as a leader he improved his game,” Bilas said of Bradley and his POY award. “When he was at Alabama, I don't think he had anywhere near the game that he's leaving Arizona with. He's not going to be a guy that you expect to lead a team in scoring or anything like that at the NBA level, but, but he's going to help you win. He checks a lot of boxes, and he's a winning player.”

Ultimately, Bradley checks the box that Lloyd says he’s most interested in: Playing a part in a winning team.

That 2001 draft class, after all, came fresh from a Final Four. Just as the 2026 draft class is coming fresh from Arizona's first Final Four since that 2001 season.

“At Arizona, we define our success by our team accomplishments first,” Lloyd said. “But also we want our players to be successful individually, and to have four players drafted is a unique accomplishment.”