Taking a Look at Arizona Guard Brayden Burries Draft Stock

The NBA Draft has come and gone with teams now in summer league mode and gearing up for the 2025-26 season that begins in October. 

Now, in the past draft, Arizona saw freshman Carter Bryant go No. 14 overall to San Antonio becoming the first Wildcats to get drafted by the Spurs since Sean Elliott in the 1989 draft.

In one season with the program, Bryant played a critical role off the bench as a lockdown defensive monster and averaged 6.5 PPG, 4.1 RPG and one assist while playing in 37 games and getting 19 minutes of action at a time

The key stat for Bryant in the NBA Draft was his 3-point shooting ability where he hit 37% of his attempts giving him the ability to be a 3-and-D player at the very least for his career.

Now, with the draft over, USA Today put together a way-too-early mock draft for the 2026 class that features BYU prospect going No. 1 overall in AJ Dybantsa and to the Utah Jazz.

Arizona was not left out of the first round action as incoming freshman Brayden Burries was protected to go No. 24 overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Burries would be the first Wildcat drafted in the first round by the Timberwolves since Derrick Williams was taken No. 2 overall in the 2011 draft.

Burries is part of the No. 1 recruiting class that is coming to Arizona with seven prospects that feature three 5-star recruits with the No. 8 recruit in forward Koa Peat according to the Rivals100 recruiting rankings.

During the summer, coach Tommy Lloyd and Peat went with the U19 Team USA in the World Cup and won the gold medal. Burries was not a part of the team but was able to get to Tucson and workout with remaining staff and players.

In those workouts, Burries was able to get in drills with point guard Jaden Bradley and shooting guard Anthony Dell’Orso.

Burries and Bradley are projected to be the starting backcourt for Arizona. So, them getting in work together will only help them gel quicker before the start of the 2025-26 season.

The California Gatorade Player of the Year winner is used to playing with the ball in his hands and controlling the typo of the game. However, at Arizona, the odds are that Bradley will be the main ball handler and Burries will have to learn to play off the ball at times.