The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie is projecting IU basketball forward Tucker DeVries will be drafted in the NBA next summer.
Vecenie has DeVries as the No. 54 player on his 2026 NBA Draft board.
He wasn’t included on a similar 2026 preview by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, and DeVries is the only member of the current IU team receiving draft projections at this time.
Other familiar names appear on Vecenie’s 2026 top-60 (i.e. two rounds), including UConn’s Braylon Mullins (No. 7), Kansas’ Flory Bidunga (No. 39), Texas A&M’s Mackenzie Mgbako (No. 57), and Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn (No.’s 28 and 60, respectively).
DeVries will have the opportunity to massively exceed these expectations while playing a final season under his father in Bloomington. He hasn’t played since December and has been off the radar for a while.
But a year ago at this time, DeVries was No. 30 on the 2025 NBA Draft Board at Bleacher Nation, and No. 37 at the Athletic. He was ESPN’s No. 33 overall college basketball player ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The 6-foot-7 DeVries suffered a shoulder injury in December and had surgery in February. He received a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA to play in 2025-26, his fifth season of college basketball. He is just now returning to full live contact at practice.
DeVries was limited to eight games last year at West Virginia but averaged 14.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. He shot 41.2% (35-of-85) from the floor including 47.3% (26-of-55) from three, and 82.1% (23-of-28) from the free throw line.
As a junior at Drake, DeVries averaged 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 36.3 percent from three. He’s a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year.
It’s worth pointing out, long-term NBA Draft projections don’t always pan out. A year ago at this time, Kanaan Carlyle and Mgbako were the IU players appearing on 2025 forecasts. Carlyle transferred to Florida Atlantic, and Mgbako transferred to Texas A&M after having a respectable showing at the NBA Draft Combine.
If DeVries or any other IU player is drafted next summer, it would mark the third time in the last four years a Hoosier was selected.
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