“Late night reps,” Watson wrote. “Big man can shoot the 3.”
Another video posted Monday, by Aaron Reilly, a sports agent, showed Holmes and Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, who entered his name in the draft three weeks ago while maintaining his college eligibility, running sprints up a steep hill at 5:45 a.m.
“No one out-working these two in this year’s draft,” Reilly wrote on Instagram. “The hill workout from hell and they powered through it. Can’t be prouder of their work!!”
The deadline for underclassmen to enter the draft is Saturday night. Although Holmes has not publicly announced his decision, he did file his paperwork earlier this month, according to a source, and his name will appear on the list of early-entry candidates when the NBA releases the list. Holmes also did not make any public announcements last year before the deadline.
Holmes, a 6-foot-10 forward from Goodyear, Ariz., who was a consensus All-American in 2024, still has one season of eligibility remaining. Dayton fans wonder if he might follow the path of players like Purdue’s Zach Edey, who was the national player of the year in 2023 but stuck around for a fourth season and won the award again.
Dayton coach Anthony Grant was asked after Dayton’s loss to Arizona in the second round of the NCAA tournament if he thought Holmes was ready for the next level.
“I’m 100% behind whatever decision DaRon and his family makes,” Grant said. “That guy has been a joy to coach. I wish I could have him for another five years, another 10 years. I get calls from NBA teams and scouts ask me, ‘Is he as good a kid as he seems? You read about him and you listen to him.’ Yeah, he is. He’s about all the right stuff. He’s all about the team. He’s all about hard work. He’s all about character. He’s all about caring for other people. So whatever is best for him, I’m on that train. Sign me up.”
Neil Sullivan, Dayton’s athletic director, was asked Monday if there is anything UD can do to convince him to stick around for another season.
“Whatever that would require is what we would be as a program prepared to do,” Sullivan said, “but I think coach Grant said it best after the Arizona game: ‘Sign me up for whatever’s best for him.’ If he thought that Dayton was best for him, we’re prepared for that.”
Holmes participated in the NBA Combine last spring and worked out with a number of teams but withdrew from the draft just before the deadline last year. If he had stayed in the draft, the experts expected him to go anywhere from late in the first round to late in the second.
Where do they think Holmes could be selected this year? Here’s the latest from various NBA Draft experts:
Rowan Kent, NoCeilingsNBA.com: “In this draft class, there’s clear positional value for a player like Holmes II who can immediately step in and play a role for a team. This is enough for me, amongst others, to rate him as a first round draft prospect, even though he might have a lower ceiling than other centers in this draft, like Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan. For my money’s worth, Holmes II will either be one of the better backup centers in the league or a solid starter for a middling team in his rookie year. He has the tools to play major minutes if need be, but he also has the precise skillset to bully bench big men and create advantages for his team with his versatile scoring package.”
Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, ESPN.com: They predict Holmes will go to the Detroit Pistons in the second round with the No. 53 pick.
Sam Vecenie, The Athletic: He predicts the Utah Jazz will draft Holmes with the first pick of the second round (No. 31 overall).
Jonathan Wasserman, BleacherReport.com: He predicts the Boston Celtics will draft Holmes at No. 30. That’s the last pick of the first round.
“DaRon Holmes II enters this pre-draft process with more momentum than he had last year,” Wasserman wrote. “Improved range, handles/body control attacking the basket and passing have raised his draft stock, and he’s coming off a 23-point, 11-rebound, three-assist, four-stock game with a pair of threes against Arizona in the NCAA tournament. There still seems to be some reluctance from scouts who question his defensive fit and how translatable his shot and face-up game are. But the believers out there do sound high on Holmes, and it’s sounding possible that one of them could use a first-round pick to get him.”
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