He’ll be a first-round problem for Kentucky. And then he might be a portal target
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Graves eyed as a potential 2026 first‑round pick; faces Kentucky.
- Portal interest likely if Graves isn’t in the NBA next season.
- Santa Clara credited for his development; weighing draft, return, or portal.
Allen Graves finds himself in an odd situation this week.
That’s because it’s an odd time for the sport of college basketball.
In normal times, Graves, a redshirt freshman for the Santa Clara Broncos, would spend the week celebrating the fact that his program is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 30 years, as well as its opportunity to face blue-blood Kentucky in the first round Friday.
And Graves is doing that, to be sure. He joked around with a couple of teammates on the pregame podium Thursday morning. He did some more clowning around in the locker room after that. And then Graves — as affable a player as you’re likely to encounter during this edition of March Madness — took more questions about his game and his teammates and their big-name opponent in round one.
But there were other questions, too. Questions about where his own basketball journey might lead him in the not-too-distant future. And while the specific scenario went unsaid, there’s an understanding that he could be playing next season somewhere else.
Maybe even for Kentucky.
NBA draft questions for rising stars are nothing new in NCAA Tournament interview sessions. And Graves could very well be a draft pick this year.
But the current landscape of college basketball dictates that the transfer portal must always be a topic of conversation, and the speculation around Graves is that if he’s not in the NBA this time next year, he’ll likely be playing college basketball somewhere other than Santa Clara.
“I try not to focus on it, obviously,” Graves told the Herald-Leader. “Going into the tournament, it’s obviously something that I see. But I try not to focus on it. Trying to be here for my team, be present in the present moment. Because if I’m not where my feet are — if I’m focusing on the future, on the past, on what’s going to be — then I’m not going to be here in the present moment. And I really want to live in this.”
Most players in this position would say they never look at such speculation. They would say they don’t even know where they’re slotted in NBA mock drafts or the larger conversation around their status as a pro prospect.
Graves is fully aware that’s been the common response of players in the past. He was forthright enough before Friday’s game to tell the truth of the situation.
“I could lie and say no, but yes, obviously, I do look at that stuff on Twitter. I do look at everything like that,” he said with a smile. “It’s definitely crazy to think about it, coming off the redshirt year, my journey, coming from high school. It’s been a crazy experience, but I’m glad that I got to be a part of and got to be here while doing it.”
Once this chapter of his journey ends, Graves will have a series of decisions in front of him.
Going through the 2026 NBA draft process, at the very least, would be a logical move. Graves — a 6-foot-9 forward from Ponchatoula, Louisiana — is being talked about in draft circles as a potential first-round pick this summer.
But he’s also being talked about as a guy who could truly boost his stock with one more season of college basketball. And for a “mid-major” player in 2026, one more season of college basketball at a “bigger” program than Santa Clara could bring a larger paycheck along with it.
Graves has been the subject of such rampant speculation in college circles that Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek was asked Thursday about those bigger programs “tampering” with players from smaller ones like his.
The question specifically mentioned Graves and the idea that, if he doesn’t enter and stay in the NBA draft this year, there’s a good chance he won’t be playing for Sendek next season, with other schools already jockeying behind the scenes to let the player know they’re interested.
“Yeah, I mean it is our reality now,” Sendek said. “And schools don’t necessarily wait until the offseason. It could be after the first game of the year, you know, it starts. I just think it is — until we get different regulations — our reality, and you just got to navigate it and deal with it. It is not a surprise. I don’t think there’s anything in particular that the NCAA can do to prevent it. Through no fault of theirs, it is the way it is.”
Allen Graves’ growing game
Nobody saw this coming. Not this soon, at least.
Even the player himself admits that. Allen Graves: first-round NBA draft pick in 2026?
“I didn’t think it was gonna come this quickly,” he acknowledged. “Coming off the redshirt year, I hadn’t played basketball — in a game — in a year. It was nerves at first, and then I kind of adjusted to it. Built my confidence back up. And that’s one thing I really credit to Santa Clara. They do a great job of building your confidence and continue to keep you confident in your abilities and yourself. And as soon as I got my confidence back, it just kind of skyrocketed. And then all of a sudden, the draft buzz came and, you know, God willing, it’ll happen.”
Graves took a roundabout way to find himself in this position.
He said he called himself “Chubby Allen” in his early days of high school. He worked to get in better shape over those years and, apparently, overcorrected. By the time his senior season rolled around, he was on the other end of the weight spectrum.
“I was skinny,” he said. “I didn’t have barely any muscle.”
He earned state player of the year honors during his senior year of high school, but the major college coaches weren’t exactly knocking down his door. Graves didn’t even have a profile page at 247Sports, much less a ranking, and Santa Clara beat out Xavier for his commitment.
The Broncos had a solid, experienced frontcourt when he arrived, and it was clear Graves needed to improve physically to keep up. So it was decided that he would spend last season as a redshirt. “At first, it was a tough blow,” Graves said. “I was like, ‘Dang, a redshirt?’”
But he knows now that it was the best path for his basketball career.
Graves said he arrived at Santa Clara weighing 210 pounds and added 10-15 pounds of muscle over his first year on campus. He’s gained around the same amount over the past year, too.
“Also on the court, just more time for development,” he said. “Obviously we have a very great player development program, and just being able to attack every aspect of my game each and every day was definitely very beneficial for me, and coming into this year it’s proven to be beneficial.”
Graves went into the NCAA Tournament averaging 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game, and he’s clearly gotten more comfortable as a scorer over the course of the season. He shot 57.0% from the field in conference games — up from 42.4% in nonconference play — his 3-point numbers are slightly up (42.6% in league play) and his free-throw percentage rocketed from 58.6% against nonconference opponents to 79.2% in the league.
In 21 West Coast Conference games, he averaged 13.5 points per game — up from 8.6 points before league play began — and was ultimately named the WCC Freshman of the Year.
Graves isn’t a freakish athlete, but he uses his newfound strength well. He’s not the best defender, but his lightning-quick hands and high IQ have allowed him to be a threat on that end of the floor. He has great vision as a passer, too.
Sitting out a year to concentrate on his body and his skill set allowed all of that to happen.
“The more I switched my mindset to use it as an advantage and use it as something that I can do to better myself and better my game, then that was something that really benefited me,” he said. “And it was just really great for my game. I really appreciate them for doing that for me. It was one of the best decisions of my life, because now I have the opportunity to showcase everything I worked on on the court this year.”
What’s next for Allen Graves?
It’s no secret that Mark Pope will be in the market for difference-makers this offseason.
Kentucky is expected to return several rotation players from the 2025-26 roster, but leading scorers Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen will be gone, and the most promising long-term talent on the team — injured forward Jayden Quaintance — will head to the NBA draft.
Graves also fits the mold of the kind of player Pope would go after in the portal, which will be open from April 7-21 for new entries. There’s been speculation for months that Graves will be one of the biggest names to put his name in the portal, and that decision will need to be made before the NBA draft process ramps up.
Funnily enough, NBA pedigree is part of the reason he ended up at Santa Clara, where Sendek helped mold Jalen Williams and Brandin Podziemski into first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. Both are successful pros, too, with Williams earning NBA All-Star honors and winning a league championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season. Podziemski has been a key player for the Golden State Warriors in each of his three seasons there.
“Obviously, I want to make the NBA after this year, next year, whenever I can,” Graves said. “I want to go to the NBA, and that’s my end goal. And they definitely have the pedigree to do that. … I’ve talked to Jalen a couple times. Talked to Brandin. It’s been a great experience.”
Steve Nash is an alum, too, and Graves said the two-time NBA MVP has talked to the team this season, as well.
Graves went out of his way Thursday to praise those players, Sendek, the rest of the coaching staff, Santa Clara’s strength and conditioning crew and all of his teammates. Maybe he’ll be back there next season, if he doesn’t stay in the draft, or maybe he’ll hit the portal like so many expect him to.
If he does opt for another year of college, he’ll be highly coveted. It’s worth noting that WCC power Gonzaga is leaving the conference for the new-look Pac-12 this summer, so the competition will be a lot less stiff for Santa Clara next season.
And Graves knows there’s still lots of room for improvement on his end. Asked where he could grow as a player with another year of college ball, the 19-year old grinned again.
“Everywhere,” he said.
He can still add strength and get his body in even better shape. Despite the gains, that’s been one knock from scouts, and Graves averaged only 22.5 minutes per game this season, a sign that his conditioning could improve.
He said he could get more consistent shooting the ball, especially off the dribble and particularly from deep. Graves is at 41.6% from 3-point range for the season, though he averages only 2.6 attempts per game. He wants to showcase his ball handling skills more, and he knows he can grow as an all-around defender.
Those same scouts who see room for improvement say Graves could work his way into the lottery range of the 2027 draft if he actually achieves it. He’s already a solid pick-and-pop player with a physical game and real vision as a passer.
He’s also mature for his age.
Graves confirmed to the Herald-Leader that he won’t turn 20 years old until July. “My age has been a question for a while,” he said, noting he’d seen the social media speculation over that fact, too.
He’s a redshirt freshman who speaks like a senior, and he said his wife — Graves married his high school sweetheart, and they’ll celebrate their first anniversary in July — has helped him stay grounded amid this sudden basketball stardom.
Where he is when July comes around remains to be seen. For this week, he simply wanted to concentrate on the here and now.
“Making March Madness, I want to live in this moment and just take it in for as much time as I can, and then go out there and play and showcase my abilities. And hopefully that stuff will come later. I’m just really focusing on the game right now and helping my team win in any way I can.”
