NBA Prospects in California: Miles Byrd/Maxime Raynaud
Brian breaks down the top prospects in California! This includes San Diego State's Miles Byrd, Stanford's Maxime Raynaud, Cal's Andrej Stojakovic, USC's Wesley Yates II, UCLA's Kobe Johnson and more!
California had a down year in terms of high-level college hoops again. There were some pleasant surprises, but many teams with high-level NBA Draft prospects struggled this season. So, let’s dive into it! It wasn’t all doom and gloom for California. St. Mary’s continued to be a solid team. UC San Diego has been one of the best mid-majors all season long in the Big West. UCLA had a bounce-back year after being abysmal by their standards the year before. San Diego State started out hot but struggled down the stretch and lost to North Carolina in the tournament. Stanford had a good year with Kyle Smith as their head coach, and I expect that team will get better pretty soon. San Francisco and Santa Clara lived up to expectations. USC and California struggled in their first years in new conferences. Let’s break down the top prospects!
Miles Byrd/San Diego State
My Opinion:
I really like Miles Byrd long term. I had him in my top 10 at one point this season. The issue is that his shot completely disappeared. I like that he was attempting those shots, but they haven’t gone in this year. Defensively, he’s legit, but he can still make some mistakes there. I think it would be better if he went back to school at this point because if he improves his shooting, he could have a real chance to go in the top 20. He might still have a chance this year, but it would involve him shooting lights out in workouts.
Maxime Raynaud/Stanford
My Opinion:
I had him on a sleeper list from last season. With a better coach and a pass-first point guard, Maxime has emerged as a potential second-round sleeper. He’s super talented and should get some serious run at some point in his career. He will likely end up being a fantasy monster when that happens. You’ll likely hear comparisons to Quinten Post heat up for him. Personally, I don’t like that comparison for a few reasons. I talked about it a little bit in the write-up, but there is an athleticism difference, a difference in how much I trust the shot, and Post is bigger than Raynaud. Due to these factors, the upside isn’t super high, but he can be a useful player in the NBA, though it's likely just as a backup center.
Andrej Stojakovic/California
My Opinion:
I do like Andrej and his potential, but I also recognize that he’s not ready for the NBA right now. He doesn’t do enough of what the NBA currently values. The swing skills are defense and shooting. If one of those areas improves, his NBA outlook looks significantly better. For now, he’s not a serious NBA prospect for the 2025 NBA Draft, let alone a top-level college player in the country. He has his moments, which you can see in the highlights, but there are some stark lows as well.
Wesley Yates III/USC
My Opinion:
I mean, if he came out this year, I’d draft him, but he’s not my favorite type of player. The shot is just too low for him. I worry about how he’ll shoot like this in the NBA. I get that it went in, and I understand that everyone has their own shot, but I just don’t know how he gets it off fast enough or high enough to avoid closeout defenders. He can really score the basketball, but the lack of athleticism is pretty apparent, and it will hold him back. I want to see him return to school and see if he can improve either his passing or defense.
Adama Bal/Santa Clara
My Opinion:
Last year, I was moderately intrigued, but I’m a lot more concerned this year. The lack of improvement is an issue, and given the fact that the only elite skill we see from him right now is taking threes, it’s hard for me to get super interested. I do understand that there is some long-term upside. He has a very good assist-to-turnover ratio, but it’s still Santa Clara. I’d be fine giving him an Exhibit-10 contract, but not more than that. There’s a real chance that his career ends up being in France or another European country, given his origins.
Kobe Johnson/UCLA
My Opinion:
I think he’s got a shot, but he needs to make his shots. He won’t be a high-usage player, but as a spot rotation piece, he could have some value. He’s not the best prospect on UCLA, but he is auto-eligible. He’s a good disruptor and has NBA pedigree through his brother. He could be an Exhibit 10 type of guy.
Quick Hits:
This segment, I’ll talk about some other prospects that don’t have the buzz as some of the others do, but could play summer league or are other sleeper names to watch for next season.
San Diego State’s Magoon Gwath is the easy name for this list. He’s a seven-foot freshman who moves like a wing, averages a crazy amount of blocks, and can hit threes. You may ask, why isn’t he a projected lottery pick for this year? Well, I’ll tell you why. He’s measuring at 7’0” and 205 pounds. No, that’s not a typo—205 pounds. He’s incredibly thin, and his game is very raw. The flashes are absolutely ridiculous with him. Magoon won’t be a 2025 guy, but if he puts on more muscle, by 2026 or 2027, he could be a potential lottery pick in that draft. He’s that talented. He’s averaging 3.8 blocks per 36 minutes.
UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. has emerged as a potential draft prospect with his size and shooting. He transferred from Oklahoma State this season. He’s shooting well from three, though on low volume. At 6’8” and 230 pounds, he’s a good defender and takes efficient shots. He’s a sophomore, so he still has some time. I don’t see him entering the draft this season, but I think he’s a really interesting prospect in the long term.
St. Mary’s Mikey Lewis has been one of the most underrated freshmen in the entire country. Right now, the main selling points are his ability to shoot and defend at 6’3”. He takes about 60% of his shots from three and is hitting them at a 39% clip as of when I’m writing this. He’s been coming off the bench for St. Mary’s but could really emerge next season or later as a potential draft prospect as a 3-and-D guard.
USC’s Desmond Claude has had an up-and-down year. He played two years at Xavier before transferring to USC. He has good size and can play solid defense. He can also score pretty well, but he turns the ball over a lot. He has NBA size and strength. This is a name to watch for next year as a potential second-round pick, but he will need to show improvement going into the next season.
St. Mary’s Augustas Marciulionis has been the point guard in charge of the St. Mary’s Gaels for the past two seasons. He has good size at 6’4” and 200 pounds, and he’s a very good pure point guard. He can set up his teammates well and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. The issue is his shooting, which is solid but not elite. Given that he doesn’t have great athleticism and will likely struggle to score consistently in the NBA, it’s tough to see him fully making it. However, he could be an interesting two-way or Exhibit-10 target.
USC’s Saint Thomas has had a really underwhelming year. He came in with the buzz of potentially being a first-round pick, but that possibility quickly disappeared. He had a stretch where he played well, but then he fell off again. He’s still a really good rebounder, but that’s the best thing I can really say about him this year. His shooting regressed, and he wasn’t even the best player or prospect on a team that finished 14th in the Big Ten. It’s unfortunate that we’re here, but that’s where we’re at.
Santa Clara’s Elijah Mahi has had some big games this year. He’s shooting the ball efficiently, but on low volume. He already has NBA size at 6’7” and 220 pounds. He’s a junior at this point, so I’m interested to see how he plays next season without Adama Bal.
San Francisco’s Malik Thomas has had a good year for the Dons. He’s a good scoring guard who can put up points in a hurry. He’s shot the ball efficiently throughout his career. The issue is he’s very limited in other areas. His defense needs to improve, he doesn’t have elite size, and he didn’t make much of an impact when he was at USC previously. Fun fact: his freshman year had some of the most horrific advanced numbers I’ve seen in a long time— a -12 PER, a 39.5 OTRG, -17.7 OBPM, and -19.2 BPM in 18 minutes of play. He’s come a long way since then.
San Francisco’s Marcus Williams is a smaller scoring guard who has been very efficient this season. He started at Wyoming, then went to Texas A&M, and has spent the last three seasons at San Francisco. He shot over 40% from three this year and is solid defensively for his size. He’ll be a name to watch if he gets an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational.
St. Mary’s Mitchell Saxen has played all five seasons at St. Mary’s and has been the defensive anchor for that team for the past three seasons. He’s a solid-sized center at 6’10” and 230 pounds. He has solid mobility and is effective around the basket. There’s potential for him to be an Exhibit-10 player.
UC San Diego’s Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones has been one of the best mid-major players this season. At 6’6” and 200 pounds, he’s been a super efficient offensive player and a good defensive player. I’m not sure about him being an NBA guy, but if you told me that after a year or two in the NBL, he ends up getting a two-way contract, I wouldn’t be surprised.
UC San Diego’s Hayden Gray is a flamethrower from three. The other thing that’s really interesting is that he led Division 1 basketball in steals. He’s been great defensively this season. He’s pretty small, and we only have one year of solid production from him. He might get a look overseas next season, but if his game scales up (which is unlikely), maybe there will be some NBA interest.