Former Wildcat forward Henri Veesaar of North Carolina followed Bradley late in the second round, going No. 52 to Atlanta via the Los Angeles Clippers, though another former UA player, guard Kylan Boswell of Illinois, was also among the undrafted prospects.
A senior from Rochester, N.Y., Bradley led the Wildcats to the Big 12 title and their first Final Four appearance in a quarter-century, while being named the Big 12’s Player of the Year. He averaged 13.3 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 39.4% from 3-point range and posting a 2.5-1 assist-turnover ratio.
After Bradley was selected, ESPN analysts King McClure and Jay Bilas praised his leadership and other skills.
“The biggest thing is he is the ultimate leader,” McClure said. “He took that group of freshmen and was able to have success… he was phenomenal in that way.
McClure said Bradley can “stop on a dime” and shoot offensively over a defense while causing trouble on the other side of the ball. Bilas added that Bradley averaged 35 points per 40 minutes of “clutch time play; Bradley’s drives to the basket helped UA pull out early wins against UCLA and UConn while he also hit a buzzer-beater to beat Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
“That game he had against Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament was magnificent,” Bilas said. “He’s a Big 12 player of the year and the Big 12 had some pretty damn good players, including the top two picks in this draft.”
The Big 12 wound up having 13 players drafted, including BYU’s AJ Dybantsa at No. 1 and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson at No. 2. The 16-team conference produced four of the top 10 picks, including Burries, nine of the 30 first-round picks.
While Bradley drew praise for his leadership, Suns GM Brian Gregory cited Peat’s character and winning pedigree in Phoenix’s decision to trade up for the 30th pick and get the Phoenix-area native.