Baba Miller is automatically eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft after exhausting his collegiate eligibility at Cincinnati, closing a winding path that took him from Real Madrid’s youth program to three college teams in the United States. The 6-foot-11 forward, whose full name is Papa Ababacar Bartolome Miller, now moves from college basketball to draft evaluation with the size and mobility that kept him on scouts’ lists for years.
That eligibility matters because Miller did not arrive in the usual way. He was viewed as a potential one-and-done prospect when he committed to Florida State, but his path was interrupted early when he was suspended for the first 16 games after taking a $3,000 payment to go to a training camp in 2020. He did not debut for Florida State until January, then transferred to Florida Atlantic after his sophomore season and later to Cincinnati for his senior year.
By the end of that run, Miller had built a résumé that explains why teams still care. He won second-team All-AAC honors at Florida Atlantic, then at Cincinnati averaged a double-double with four assists per game and earned second-team All-Big 12. He also turned in a strong five-on-five showing at the NBA Draft Combine, a stage where his length and movement stood out again after years of obvious physical growth.
That growth has been part of the story from the start. Miller grew up in Mallorca, Spain, was recruited to Real Madrid early, and spent six years there. He went from 6 feet 2 as a 14-year-old to 6-11 at 19, made his Real debut for the senior team in December 2021 and played on a Real Madrid youth team that won the Next Generation Tournament in 2021. When he entered the draft that year, he was invited to the G League Elite Camp, another sign that evaluators had already decided his frame could carry real value.
What has not fully changed is the evaluation around his game. Miller’s standing reach is 9-3, which is the kind of measure that belongs in the upper range of NBA prospects and helps explain why teams keep looking past uneven production. But the same scouting reports that praise his physical tools still question whether the jumper is trustworthy and whether his defensive fundamentals are sharp enough to match the upside. That is why a strong combine can still leave him in the priority two-way conversation rather than the guaranteed-money tier.
For now, the next step is simple: Miller is in the 2026 pool, and the league will decide whether his frame, rebounding and defensive promise outweigh the unfinished parts of his offense. His college path is over. What remains is whether an NBA team sees enough development, and enough certainty, to commit a full contract.
