Thunder Take Aday Mara With No. 12 Overall Pick

michigan middle Aday Mara is the third Wolverine to be drafted within the 2026 lottery, coming off the board at No. 12 to the Thunder.

Mara, who spent his first two school seasons at UCLA, transferred to Michigan for his junior 12 months and performed a significant position within the Wolverines’ nationwide championship season. After coming off the bench for the Bruins as a freshman and sophomore, Mara was a full-time starter in Ann Arbor, averaging 12.1 factors, 6.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and a pair of.4 assists in 23.4 minutes per sport whereas taking pictures 66.8% from the ground.

A 7’3″ native of Spain, Mara was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year this spring and was the Wolverines’ standout participant in a Final Foul victory over Arizona, racking up a season-high 26 factors to go together with 9 rebounds, three assists, and two blocks.

Mara noticed his inventory rise through the pre-draft course of, which coincided with Victor Wembanyama main the Spurs to a spot within the NBA Finals. Mara’s dimension makes him an intriguing choice to try to fight Wembanyama and the remainder of the league’s most expert large males.

After coming to Michigan, Mara displayed spectacular passing expertise, usually getting the crew’s transition play going with a well-delivered outlet go. He has additionally proven flashes of taking pictures capacity, though he’ll doubtless require a great quantity of labor earlier than the shot is an actual weapon.

The Thunder at the moment have one thing of a logjam on the large man place, with Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williamsand rookie Thomas Sorberwho did not play this 12 months as he recovered from a torn ACL. They additionally maintain a crew choice on Isaiah Hartenstein. While the crew is trying to shed wage this summer season, Hartenstein and Williams had been each essential elements of the Thunder’s depth throughout this 12 months’s playoff run.

Mara provides the crew a large on the within who needs to be an elite rim protector and finisher across the rim. The largest questions going through him will probably be his footspeed saving in house and whether or not he can deal with taking part in large NBA minutes constantly, though the Thunder’s depth ought to make the latter situation much less of a urgent concern.

This choose marks the final asset the Thunder will get better from 2019 Paul George trade with the Clippers.