{"id":647691,"date":"2026-05-03T21:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647691\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T21:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T21:44:09","slug":"usf-mens-basketballs-izaiyah-nelson-earns-nba-draft-combine-invite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647691\/","title":{"rendered":"USF men\u2019s basketball\u2019s Izaiyah Nelson earns NBA Draft Combine invite"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>USF men\u2019s basketball has seen nine players selected in the NBA Draft, but just two since 2006. ORACLE PHOTO \/ ELLIE FROST<\/p>\n

For the first time since 2010, USF men\u2019s basketball has a player headed to the NBA Draft Combine.<\/p>\n

Senior forward Izaiyah Nelson<\/a> earned an invitation to the 2026 event, and is the first Bull to receive the opportunity since Dominique Jones<\/p>\n

Jones was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2010 draft.<\/p>\n

Nelson was one of 73 prospects<\/a> invited and only one of three players selected to participate from outside the power conferences.<\/p>\n

The event is set for May 10-17 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis in Chicago, with the 2026 NBA Draft scheduled for June 23\u201324 at the Barclays Center.<\/p>\n

Related: USF men\u2019s basketball rounds out staff with off-court, development roles<\/a><\/p>\n

Nelson\u2019s invitation follows one of the most decorated seasons in program history.<\/p>\n

The forward averaged 15.9 points and 9.6 rebounds per game this past season, adding 48 blocks and 56 steals.<\/p>\n

He recorded 18 double-doubles, tying for the second-most in a single season in program history and ranking among the top 10<\/a> nationally.<\/p>\n

Nelson became the first player<\/a> in American Conference history to earn Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year honors in the same season.<\/p>\n

He added to those accolades with First Team<\/a> All-Conference recognition and the National Association of Basketball Coaches First Team<\/a> All-Southeast District honors.<\/p>\n

The NABC groups Division I programs into 10 geographic districts based on state lines, rather than by conference affiliation.<\/p>\n

His performance has continued to build momentum during the postseason evaluation period.<\/p>\n

Nelson participated in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament from April 15\u201318.<\/p>\n

The event brought together 64 senior prospects<\/a> from across the country to compete and undergo measurements in front of professional scouts, similar to the NBA Draft Combine.<\/p>\n

At Portsmouth, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals and two blocks while shooting 59.1% from the field across three games.<\/p>\n

Related: USF rejects stepping-stone program label<\/a><\/p>\n

He measured in at 6-foot-9, 219 pounds with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, while recording a 32-inch vertical and a 3.235-second time in the three-quarter court sprint.<\/p>\n

The performance provided another data point for evaluators, offering NBA teams insight into how his skill set translates to the pros, as he did enough to earn nods from teams for a spot in the combine.<\/p>\n

Invitations to the NBA Draft Combine are decided through input from all 30 teams, each selecting the prospects they want to take a deeper look at before the draft.<\/p>\n

The added exposure presents an opportunity to strengthen his position within a smaller-than-usual draft pool.<\/p>\n

Only 71 players declared as early entrants for the 2026 draft, according to the NBA<\/a> \u2014 down from 106 last year and well below the 363 prospects who entered in 2021, the highest mark in recent years. This year\u2019s total is the lowest since 2003.<\/p>\n

With a smaller pool of early entrants and added exposure in front of NBA decision-makers, Nelson heads into the next stage of the evaluation process looking to solidify his standing ahead of the NBA Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USF men\u2019s basketball has seen nine players selected in the NBA Draft, but just two since 2006. ORACLE…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-647691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}