Sleeper Final Four Draft Target for Indiana Pacers

While Michigan Forward Yaxel Lendeborg has already earned lottery talks for himself with his strong play, his teammate in the front court, 7'2" center Aday Mara, is also making a case to move up draft evaluators' big boards.

A play-finishing big with impressive ball skills near the rim for his size, agile mobility to leverage his body in ways he needs to create advantages, and strong rim-rolling rim-protecting power at the five, Mara offers a modern yet traditional skill-set to the table fo

In a draft class particularly deep with talented guards, could Mara's impressive play combined with the market demand for bigs force his stock to rise higher than initially expected?

ESPN's latest Mock Draft has Mara being selected at the 24th pick to Philadelphia, and that was before his Michigan team made this Final Four run, putting his name on an even bigger map.

Aday Mara could be the sleeper rotation big man of the draft

Mara interviewed — Michigan center Aday Mara (15) is being interviewed in the locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Friday, April 3, 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the Big 10, Mara has been a dominant force, whether it be at UCLA or Michigan.

17 Blocks to 3 Fouls in his 5-game March Madness career, hints to his instincts as a smart, effective rim-protecting defender.

NCAA Scout Mike Roth of Prep Hoops Ohio & Kentucky broke down Mara's game on my Swish Theory Podcast, 'Learning Basketball'.

His Per-40 numbers at UCLA were really, really good. Crazy productive guy in the Big-10 last year, and obviously have taken that to a whole other level this year...

To me, he is just a no-brainer lottery-level guys.

Yaxel has been talked about plenty, but I am a big fan of 7-foot-2-inch and taller Centers. Height is a valuable asset if you are going to be an NBA Center, and Mara definitely has that.

Obviously, got great touch around the basket. Not a great free throw shooter, career 57% FT%.

I think we are seeing guys like, the National Title a couple years back, Clingan vs Edey; I was really high on both of those guys. Mara not quite the level of prospect that either of those guys were, but has some similar defensive ability, size, rim-protection skills.

He just, to me, projects at worst as like an impactful 18-minute a game backup center, and that being a floor seems really good to me in this class.

I am a big Mara fan; out of all the Final Four guys, he is the one I am higher on than national consensus the most.
Mike Roth

If the Pacers end up moving back up into the late first or early second round, Mara is the level of prospect they could be targeting, a rotation level big who brings a little bit something different than their current bigs and can run and gun in their up and down screen setting rim-rolling system, even flashing the trailing three skill to boot.

7'2" Michigan C Aday Mara is a big Final Four 2026 NBA Draft Prospect

"Mara is a guy who's been on a steady improvement timeline

To me, a no-brainer Lottery-Level guy

Great touch around the basket" - @_MikeRoth

*NEW* 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 Podcast @SwishTheory pic.twitter.com/nnqzm2hjdn
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) April 1, 2026

One could argue Mara is a safe bet, a higher floor, a solid pick for any team in need of a walking height mismatch rotation big to defend the rim, grab boards, screen sound and run the floor hard, be big and use his size smartly, and finish with finesse and force around the rim.

In a class full of guards where many could end up as one-way impact sparkplug scores, there are worlds where Mara delivers late-lottery first round impact to a team that plucks him out of the late 20s or early 30s in this draft.

Big Men are back like they never left.