Former Flyer expected to be second-round NBA Draft pick

Dayton likely won’t hear its name called this week either, even though Koby Brea, who’s expected to be drafted, is a UD graduate. Brea played four seasons at Dayton but spent his final season with the Kentucky Wildcats.

Brea played a big part in Dayton’s first NCAA tournament victory in nine years in 2024. He helped lead Kentucky to the Sweet 16 this year. If he gets drafted this week, it would be the third year in a row and the fourth time in the last six drafts, a former Flyer has been picked.

In the modern era of the draft, when it has had only two rounds, Dayton had never seen players drafted in back-to-back years until 2023 and 2024.

Neil Sullivan, Dayton’s director of athletics, talked about Dayton’s growing NBA legacy last year.

“I think really our message is you can do it from Dayton,” Sullivan said. “Our staff uses a term: ‘Built at Dayton.’ We want players and we want the world to know that you can be a lottery pick from Dayton. You can be a second-round pick. You can be a pro. Whatever it is, that can happen from here. So we try to shed labels. We’re about that, and that’s what we can do. I think that’s a really important message.”

The Denver Nuggets drafted Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II in the first round last year with the No. 22 pick. Two years ago, the Phoenix Suns drafted Toumani Camara in the second round with the No. 52 pick and later traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers. In 2020, the New York Knicks drafted Obi Toppin in the first round with the No. 8 pick.

Those three players were recruited and signed by Dayton coach Anthony Grant. Antetokounmpo, the 60th and final player chosen in the 2018 draft, was recruited by former Dayton coach Archie Miller but played for Grant in the 2017-18 season.

NBA Draft experts expect Brea to be drafted in the second round.

• Jonathan Givony, of ESPN, predicts the Sacramento Kings will draft Brea in the second round with the 42nd overall pick.

• A mock draft on SI.com predicts Brea will go to the Detroit Pistons in the second round with the 37th pick.

• Kevin O’Connor, of Yahoo Sports, predicted Brea will be drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the second round with the No. 34 pick.

“Brea projects as a shooting specialist who has a clear path to becoming a rotation player because of his highly sought after skill,” O’Connor wrote. “But in order to avoid being a weak link on defense, he’ll need to make improvements to his athleticism.”

• Jonathan Wasserman, of Bleacher Report, predicted the Golden State Warriors will draft Brea with the 41st pick.

“Koby Brea joined a short list of college players 6-6 and over to shoot 42.0 percent from three on 700 career attempts,” Wasserman wrote. “Half carved out NBA careers or roles, including Allan Houston, Dennis Scott, Jason Kapono, Kyle Korver, Sam Hauser and Steve Novak. Teams could see a specialist and value with Brea in the second round.”

• Sam Vecenie, of The Athletic, predicted the Cleveland Cavaliers will draft Brea with the No. 49 pick.

In a story by The Athletic that quoted anonymous coaches about draft prospects, one coach had this to say about Brea: “I always thought he was an NBA player, and I didn’t realize until we played them that he was 6-7 and he’s legit 6-7. That’s a guy I can see in the NBA for a long time. I don’t know how you can replace what he can do with it. He gets it off so quickly. Can’t really play-make for anyone else but himself, but if you need a guy to go out there and just make shots, at one point he was shooting 50 something percent from 3 during the year.”

The draft once again takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where it has been held every year since 2013, except for the pandemic year of 2020.

The first round starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday and will air on ABC and ESPN. The second round takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday and will air on ESPN.

Brea, a 6-foot-7 guard from the Bronx, N.Y., committed to Dayton in October 2019. He was part of a 2020 recruiting class that included Luke Frazier and R.J. Blakney.

At the time of his commitment, Brea was a young senior, just 16, and he had considered doing a post-graduate season and moving to the 2021 class. Instead, he stayed in the 2020 class.

Like Toppin, Brea was an unranked recruit when he signed with Dayton. He averaged 2.9 points as a freshman in the pandemic season of 2020-21 when the Flyers played in a nearly-empty UD Arena or in totally-empty arenas in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Brea won the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2022, averaging 8.1 points. He then averaged 6.8 points as a junior before undergoing offseason surgeries on both legs to address stress fractures he dealt with in his tibias over the previous year.

Brea’s breakout season came in his fourth and final season at Dayton. He averaged 11.1 points per game and led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (49.8, 100 of 201). He once again won the A-10 Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Brea still had one more season of eligibility because the pandemic season didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility. He played his fifth season at Kentucky, averaging 11.6 points and shooting 43.5% from 3-point range (93 of 2014).

Brea talked about his journey and his comeback from the surgeries to reporters at the NBA Draft Combine in May.

“Life is all about adversity,” Brea said. “I kind of used that experience. That’s changed my life and helped me come back to the court and have a different approach to everything. When I walk into the basketball court, it feels like a blessing. It’s something that a lot of guys take for granted but you never know. Anything can happen, and it can be taken away from you. I’m having a different level of appreciation and just enjoying everything that comes with it.”