UCLA Basketball: Expert Ranks 2 Bruins Among Top Pac-12 NBA Prospects In 2024
With the start of your UCLA Bruins' impending 2023-24 season fast approaching, experts have taken to appraising some of the top prospects for next year's NBA draft.
Adam Finkelstein of Bruin Report Online believes that two highly-regarded Bruins big men, freshman center Aday Mara and returning power forward Adem Bona, have a good shot at making an impact in the 2024 NBA draft, and could be among the best future prospects in the Pac-12.
"There were whole changes in Westwood this season with Mick Cronin welcoming college basketball’s most decorated international class," Finkelstein writes. "The gem of that class is 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara, who arrives from Spain with clear one-and-done potential. UCLA’s most notable returning player, Adem Bona, also plays the center position, which leads to some questions about how Cronin will choose to deploy his big assets."
"Mara not only has massive size but he is also known as a legit low-post scoring presence and quality passer with some developing floor-spacing potential. Mobility and physicality are the key variables to watch here, not just with regards to his NBA stock, but also how he adjusts to the college game."
"Bona is a totally different type of big man. He’s somewhat undersized for NBA standards at 6’8.25” without shoes, but compensates with a 7’0.25 wingspan. It is his extreme motor and athleticism that differentiates him though. He’s an exceptional rim-runner and bouncy vertical athlete with all kinds of value on the defensive end and in the open floor."
Bona has already compiled an impressive college resume. The 6'10" big man was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and a Pac-12 All-Defensive Teamer during his rookie season with UCLA. He helped power the Bruins to a No. 2 seed in last spring's 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Bruins eventually fell int he Sweet Sixteen against Gonzaga.
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