AMES — A couple of Iowa State men’s basketball products will get to showcase their skills in front of NBA executives, scouts and general managers at the 2026 NBA Draft Combine.
Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic both received invitations to the exclusive eight-day event. The NBA announced the list of 73 invited players on May 1. The NBA Draft Combine is scheduled for May 10-17 at the Wintrust Arena and Mariott Marquis in Chicago.
Jefferson, a 6-foot-9 forward, became the Cyclones’ fifth consensus All-American and the first since Georges Niang in 2016. The two-time All-Big 12 standout averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 47.1% overall and a career-best 34.5% from deep.
The versatile big man is the only player in Iowa State history to record multiple triple-doubles, and he achieved the feat within a three-week stretch.
As for Momcilovic, he had a career-best year as a junior. The All-Big 12 second-team selection averaged a team-high 16.9 points per game, while shooting 50.6% overall and 48.6% from deep. He led the country in 3-point shooting percentage and total 3-point makes, with 136 treys. That mark is also an Iowa State single-season record, surpassing the previous record set by Dedric Willoughby’s 102 3-pointers in the 1996-97 season.
Momcilovic had 124 combined 3-pointers throughout his freshman and sophomore seasons.
He also had the fifth-highest true shooting percentage (69.3%) in the country and an effective field-goal percentage of 67.2%, which was good for 13th in the nation.
While Momcilovic declared for the NBA Draft and intends to go pro, he will have until May 27 to decide whether to remain in the draft pool or withdraw and use his final season of college eligibility elsewhere. Due to the timing of the transfer portal window and the NBA Draft pool withdraw date, Momcilovic had also entered the transfer portal — in the event that the Pewaukee, Wisconsin, native chooses to return to college.
According to the latest mock draft by ESPN, Jefferson is projected to go 30th overall, while Momcilovic is slated at 37th. In The Athletic’s mock draft, Jefferson is projected to go 33rd, while Momcilovic isn’t listed.
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic, Joshua Jefferson invited to NBA Combine
Reporting by Eugene Rapay, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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