The first round of the 2026 NBA draft gets underway officially on Tuesday, June 23, at 5:00 PM PT, while the second round takes place 24 hours later. The Gonzaga Bulldogs have had nine different players selected since 2019, with the latest coming late in the second round in 2024 when Anton Watson went No. 54 overall to the Boston Celtics.
Graham Ike is hoping to give Gonzaga their tenth draft pick of the last seven years after finishing up a prolific collegiate career by earning Third Team AP All-American honors in 2025-26.
The 6'9 forward began his college career at Wyoming in 2020-21 and broke out as one of the best players in the Mountain West in 2021-22, averaging 19.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists with the Cowboys.
He went into 2022-23 as the Mountain West preseason Player of the Year, but a foot injury cost him the entire season and resulted in the Aurora, CO native hitting the transfer portal and landing at Gonzaga alongside Ryan Nembhard and Steele Venters in the 2023-24 season.
Ike then put together three outstanding years in Spokane, culminating in his first WCC Player of the Year award in 2025-26 when he averaged 19.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists while shooting 60.9% on twos and 33.8% from three.
All told, Ike finished his career with 2,575 career points - one of three college players to end last season in the 2k point club - along with 1,144 rebounds.
The big man worked out with 13 different NBA clubs during the pre-draft process, and his strong work at the G League Elite camp - not to mention a staggering 7'5 1/4 wingspan - has him squarely on the bubble of being selected during Wednesday's second round.
The latest consensus big board from Rookie Scale - which aggregates major media outlet mock drafts and big boards - has Ike sitting at No. 68 overall, putting him right around the range as a late second-round pick.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN has Ike at No. 69 on his updated top 100, but otherwise his name is rarely cropping up in second-round conversations.
Of course, nabbing 13 workouts in the pre-draft process means Ike had a chance to impress nearly half the teams in the NBA, and that has to count for something.
The big man has elite length for his position , a proven track record of production offensively, and has shown significant improvement in key areas during his college career - namely has a passer, offensive hub, and outside shooter.
Ike went from 33 assists in 2023-24 to 73 assists this past season at Gonzaga, while his turnover numbers went from 55 to just 56. Meanwhile, his outside shot became an actual weapon last year, when he hit 36.6% of his attempts in the final 13 games of the season - while taking 3.2 attempts per game as Gonzaga's focal point offensively with Braden Huff on the shelf.
March 10, 2026; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Santa Clara Broncos forward Allen Graves (22) dribbles the basketball against Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15) | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
Jack Kayil, the 20-year-old German guard who committed to Gonzaga back in October, spurned the Zags to stay in the NBA draft process after indicating he believed he would get picked in the first round. The latest consensus big board has Kayil at No. 36, so it is entirely possible he sneaks his way into the top 30 after a strong season at Alba Berlin.
Michael Ajayi, who spent the 2024-25 season at Gonzaga after earning All-WCC honors at Pepperdine the previous year, is at No. 77 on the consensus big board after an All-Big East performance at Butler this past season.
While Ike is the only player in the new look Pac-12 on the top 100 big board, other familiar names for Gonzaga fans include Santa Clara forwards Allen Graves (No. 20) and Elijah Mahi (84) as well as Oregon forward Nate Bittle (59) UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau (53) and former recruiting target and Houston guard Kingston Flemings (8).
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/gonzaga as Will Gonzaga's Graham Ike hear his name called in the 2026 NBA Draft? .
