For a second straight year, the Sixers used a second-round pick to select a center.
The team took lefty big man Johni Broome with the 35th overall pick Thursday night. In 2024, the Sixers added Adem Bona at No. 41.
Broome is coming off of a stellar final college season. Auburn reached the Final Four and Broome was a unanimous First Team All-American selection, averaging 18.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 blocks.
Broome’s rebounding stands out. He’s a physical, strong player with a serious knack for finding the ball.
Compared to Bona as a prospect, Broome is far more advanced offensively and far less athletic. He did not have good results in the NBA draft combine’s athletic testing, including the second-worst maximum vertical leap (28.0 inches) and fourth-worst shuttle run time (3.23 seconds). Broome is also smaller than the average center at 6-foot-9.25 inches without shoes and 249 pounds.
At 22 years old, Broome is a mature, battle-tested prospect following two college seasons at Morehead State and three at Auburn. He possesses a variety of offensive skills — passing, finishing, rebounding — and shot three-pointers regularly the last two seasons. Broome was much better inside the arc (35.4 percent on long-range shots in the 2023-24 season, 27.8 percent in ’24-25), but he’s at least willing to fire.
After the Sixers’ miserable 24-58 season last year, Broome will hope to earn playing time and show that his strength and savviness work in the NBA, too.
“I’m a winner,” Broome told Monica McNutt on the ESPN broadcast. “I get things done offensively and defensively. The Sixers got a good one.”
The Sixers supplemented their backcourt in Round 1 of the draft, picking Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe at No. 3 overall.