When Rueben Chinyelu declared for the NBA Draft after last season, most fans correctly assumed he would withdraw and come back to Florida ahead of the 2025-26 season. Chinyelu was a valuable asset to Florida’s national title run last season, but he didn’t feel like a player who was NBA-ready.
Fast forward a year, and Chinyelu looks like a completely evolved player that the NBA mock draft prognosticators haven’t caught up to just yet.
Rueben Chinyelu should be an NBA draft pick in 2026
ESPN dropped its latest mock draft, and Thomas Haugh was projected to go No.