A fresh wave of roster movement is coming to college basketball, and this one has a familiar summer wrinkle attached to it: NBA Summer League experience.
Three players who suited up in this year’s Summer League are set to head back to the NCAA after strong 2025-26 seasons, joining a growing list of veterans taking advantage of recent eligibility changes. Texas Tech already landed two former players, Darrion Williams and Donovan Atwell, after Atwell spent the 2026 NBA Summer League with the Chicago Bulls. Louisville also brought back former North Carolina point guard Seth Trimble after he played for the Washington Wizards in the Summer League.
Now Jaden Henley, Jaxon Kohler and Elijah Mahi are on their way back to college basketball.
Henley put together a big senior year at Grand Canyon, averaging 17.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 46.6% from the field and 26.8% from 3-point range. After that season, he competed at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and then went undrafted in the 2026 class.
He later signed a Summer League contract with the Detroit Pistons and appeared in five games, averaging 4.4 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 33.3% from the field in 11.8 minutes per game. Listed at 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, Henley now returns to Grand Canyon with the kind of size and production that could make him a factor again.
Kohler’s path looks a little different. After four years at Michigan State, he played for the Utah Jazz in the Summer League, posting 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field in 11.7 minutes per game across two games in Las Vegas.
He won’t be going back to the Spartans, though. Kohler is transferring to BYU for the upcoming season, where he’ll join potential lottery pick Bruce Branch III.
Mahi also logged a strong senior season before testing the pro waters. At Santa Clara, he averaged 14.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
He then joined Oklahoma City’s Summer League roster, though he didn’t make much of a statistical impact for the Thunder. He now plans to return to the Broncos.
There is, however, one catch hanging over all of this. A new court ruling handed down on Friday, Aug. 21, makes players from the class of 2022 temporarily ineligible while the legal fight plays out. If Henley, Mahi and Kohler are eventually cleared to play in 2026-27, all three would have a chance to build their value enough to hear their names called in 2027.
In Other News...
BYUs Jaxon Kohler Move Comes With One Massive Question
Jaxon Kohlers path to BYU became one of the most notable roster developments of the offseason, giving the Cougars an experienced frontcourt piece with real production behind him. The Michigan State big man has committed to BYU and, thanks to a temporary injunction tied to a California lawsuit involving fifth-year graduated players, is eligible to suit up this coming season. For a program looking to strengthen its interior presence, the move brings immediate credibility and a player who has already logged heavy minutes on a major stage.
Kohler spent four seasons at Michigan State, starting 69 games over his last two years and finishing his senior season at 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Those numbers are part of why his arrival is expected to have a significant impact on BYUs roster, but the larger question still hangs over everything: how long that eligibility window remains open and what it means for the Cougars if the legal landscape changes again. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Landed A Frontcourt Boost Fans Did Not See Coming
A familiar name from the Utah prep scene is headed back closer to home, and BYUs frontcourt suddenly looks a lot more settled for the long term. The American Fork product spent four seasons at Michigan State before committing to the Cougars for an extra season under the NCAAs new five-in-five eligibility rule, a policy that is still facing legal challenges but would allow him to spread five seasons across five years.
For BYU, the appeal is obvious: an experienced center who should step into the lineup and give the Cougars a proven presence in the middle. The timing matters too, because if the rule survives, he would be available for the 2026-27 season, giving BYU another layer of size and skill at a position that can change the shape of a roster fast. [Read more 🡒]
BYU May Have Finally Solved Its Biggest Roster Problem
BYUs search for a proven center has taken a significant step forward with the commitment of Jaxon Kohler, the former Michigan State big man who will suit up for a fifth college basketball season after receiving an additional year of NCAA eligibility. Kohler spent four seasons in East Lansing and capped that run by earning All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors last season, giving the Cougars a veteran interior presence at a spot that had loomed as one of the rosters biggest needs.
His arrival gives BYU a much clearer answer in the middle and should help balance a frontcourt that needs both size and spacing. Kohlers game also fits the Cougars desire to improve perimeter shooting from the inside out, but the bigger question now is how quickly he can settle in and how much he changes the ceiling of a roster that was still searching for its starting center. [Read more 🡒]