Two former Oregon Ducks are making a strong case as two of the NBA’s best draft bargains, and both names sit at the center of a re-draft conversation that says plenty about how far they’ve come.
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard is the headliner. Sports personality and podcaster Bill Simmons recently unveiled his 2020 NBA Re-Draft, and Pritchard - who originally went No. 26 overall to Boston - landed all the way up at No.
- Simmons made clear he had been high on Pritchard for a while, saying, “Pritchard, took him a couple years,” Simmons said on his podcast.
“I always like him more than it seemed like the coaches like him…I think the team liked him because they gave him a contract even before he’d kind of become who he became. And then he just became one of the best bench guards in the league.
Last year, he moved into a whole different level.”
That rise didn’t happen out of nowhere. Pritchard spent four seasons at Oregon from 2016-2020, averaging 13.5 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game.
He was part of the Ducks’ 2017 Final Four run, and his final college season was his best by far. In 2019-20, he put up 20.5 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game while earning First-team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 Player of the Year, Consensus first-team All-American honors, and both the Lute Olsen and Bob Cousy awards.
Oregon also won the 2020 Pac-12 regular season title before the NCAA Tournament was canceled because of Covid-19.
Since entering the NBA, Pritchard has kept climbing. He was part of Boston’s 2024 NBA Finals-winning team, won NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2025, and is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 17.0 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds.
Pritchard isn’t the only former Duck who has outplayed his draft slot. Dillon Brooks, now with the Phoenix Suns, belongs in that same conversation.
Brooks played at Oregon from 2014-2017 and was another key piece of the Ducks’ 2017 Final Four team. Over his college career, he averaged 14.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, and he was named the 2017 Pac-12 Player of the Year and a 2017 Consensus second-team All-American.
Brooks entered the NBA as the No. 45 overall pick in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft, but his pro career has pushed him well beyond that spot. He’s now with the Suns after bouncing around to a few different teams, and he’s coming off a career year in 2025-26 with 20.2 points per game. His reputation has also been built on the defensive end, where he earned NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors in 2023.
Bleacher Report’s 2017 NBA Re-Draft, revealed in 2025, had Brooks going No. 14 overall, a jump of 31 spots from where he was drafted.
In Other News...
Oregon May Have A New Receiver Problem In The Best Way
Iverson Hooks is arriving in Eugene with the kind of rsum that usually makes a receiver room better before it makes it more complicated. After a strong season at UAB, the redshirt senior is stepping into his final year of eligibility with production and polish, including an 82.3 PFF grade that put him among the top returning Big Ten receivers and a line that showed he can handle real volume.
For Oregon, the appeal is obvious, but so is the ripple effect. Hooks joins a group that already includes Evan Stewart, Jeremiah McClellan and Dakorien Moore, and Stewarts return from a torn patellar tendon only adds another layer to an already crowded picture. It is the kind of depth problem every staff wants, even if the first few weeks of camp may be about figuring out how all the pieces fit. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Frontcourt Search Just Took A High Stakes Turn
Oregons frontcourt planning for the 2026-27 season has taken on a different kind of urgency with Duke Brennan now in the mix. The former Villanova forward is being considered as a transfer option, and his profile fits what the Ducks are likely hunting for inside: a proven college big who can bring production and experience to a roster that will need both.
Brennans path back to campus is not straightforward, though, and that is what makes this one worth watching. He has already played in NBA Summer League and graduated, yet he is still seeking a waiver to return to college basketball under a new set of eligibility rules that have created plenty of uncertainty around cases like his. For Oregon, the appeal is obvious, but the final answer may hinge on decisions well beyond Eugene. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Just Drew A Massive Big Ten Statement Against Ohio State
Oregons place in the early Big Ten conversation is looking a lot stronger after The Athletics Scott Dochterman released his 2026 preseason all-conference teams, with the Ducks and Ohio State each landing five players on the first team. The bigger picture for Oregon is hard to miss: it placed more players than anyone else across the leagues three teams, a sign that the Ducks are being viewed as one of the conferences deepest rosters before the season even starts.
Some of the names still waiting in the wings only sharpen the intrigue, too, because Oregon has several other key pieces spread across the second and third teams, giving the roster a much broader footprint than just its headline selections. And with a November meeting against Ohio State already looming, the preseason honors only add another layer to a game that figures to carry real weight in the Big Ten race. [Read more 🡒]