Brayden Burries made a strong early case for himself at the NBA Combine on Tuesday, ranking highly in nearly all shooting drills and drawing attention from evaluators after a workout that put him squarely in the mix for the No. 9 pick Dallas landed in Sunday’s lottery draw. described the 20-year-old guard as one of the most impressive players on the day, and his numbers backed that up.
Burries posted a 35-inch standing vertical leap and a 38.5-inch maximum running vertical leap, while also turning in strong shooting results across the drill station work. He told that a team drafting him would get “a great person, somebody who's a winner, who loves to compete,” and “somebody that's funny and likes to troll, mess around.”
The buzz around Burries has been loud enough that, The Athletic and CBS all projected him to the No. 9 spot Dallas got in the lottery draw. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie wrote that Burries would be “a terrific complement to Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving as they look to make a jump next year.” That kind of fit talk matters because Dallas now controls a high-value selection and is weighing how to build around its next core piece.
Official NBA results were not yet available, and the measurements were according to No Ceilings NBA unless otherwise noted. But the early testing still gave a clear picture: Burries was not just holding his own, he was separating himself from a group of prospects whose stock can swing on combine week. ’s praise on Tuesday reflected that, and the shooting drills suggested there is real range in his profile beyond athleticism alone.
The same session also produced mixed results for other former Arizona teammates at the combine. Tobe Awaka posted a 37.5-inch maximum vertical leap and shot 63.3% off the dribble and 52.0% in spot-up shooting. Jaden Bradley shot 63.3% off the dribble, 48.0% in a 3-point star drill and 40.0% in spot-up shooting. Koa Peat shot 50% off the dribble, 28.0% in the 3-point star drill and finished last in spot-up shooting at 24.0%, though he still recorded a 37.5-inch maximum vertical leap and a 3.16-second three-quarter court sprint.
Burries, Peat and Awaka were not scheduled to take part in the combine’s five-on-five scrimmages on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving Tuesday’s testing as their main public showing of the week. Bradley was scheduled to be the point guard for a team that includes former Houston guard Emanuel Sharp and former Florida center Reuben Chinyelu, giving him another chance to steady his draft case in front of scouts. For Burries, the key question now is whether a strong combine day turns into a stronger draft-night case when Dallas is on the clock at No. 9.
The broader picture is simple: Burries entered combine week as a projected lottery pick, and he left Tuesday looking like one of the cleaner evaluations in the class. With Dallas holding the No. 9 selection and multiple outlets linking him to that range, the next step is less about whether he belongs in the conversation and more about whether a team sees enough upside, fit and competitiveness to make him the pick.
