This is far from the first time that Bruce Thornton and his family have gauged the interest in his abilities.
A highly rated guard from Alpharetta (Georgia) Milton, Thornton landed plenty of college scholarship offers before signing with Ohio State in the 2021 class. With the introduction of the transfer portal, the ability to make money from name, image and likeness payments and the increasingly transient nature of men’s college basketball, each offseason brought unsolicited behind-closed-doors overtures to lure the prolific point guard to a new campus.
In each case, Thornton and his family could choose whatever they felt was best.
Sometime during the evening of June 23 or 24, the decision on what comes next will be made for them. The most prolific scorer in Ohio State men’s basketball history is in line to hear his name called, likely during the first half of the second round, in the 2026 NBA Draft.
It will be an achievement, but one that comes with some uncertainty.
“I guess we’ve never done anything like this before because it’s a matter of someone choosing you versus you get to choose them,” Thornton’s mom, Tiaunna Briggans, said. “We keep having conversations and you just keep showing up and keep being yourself and the best is going to come for you because you’ve done everything the best of your best.”
For Thorton, the numbers and honors are evidence he has given his all. In addition to scoring 2,164 points at Ohio State, he also became the first four-time captain in program history. His career ended with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to TCU, the lone March Madness appearance of his tenure.
Since that loss in Greenville, South Carolina, Thornton has kept busy. He earned an NBA combine invitation and finished his 18th and final workout for a prospective team June 22. He was constantly jetting across the continent, meeting with teams.
The hardest part of the process, Briggans said, has been the irregular rhythm to his schedule. Case in point: Thornton had a trip that took him from Los Angeles to Toronto to San Antonio to Dallas for workouts. Five-hour layovers inside airports have impacted his ability to keep working on his game, and he’s gotten back to Atlanta twice and Columbus once since the season ended.
Otherwise, it’s been all travel and workouts.
“He’s like, ‘I’m not getting my shots up before,’ ” Thornton’s mom said. “Bruce is the type of player who wants to practice and who wants to do a pregame, and there’s no pregame, so you’ve just got to go. Some of your shooting is going to be OK and some of it is going to be great, but the more and more he did it, the better and better the shooting got.”
Thornton’s family has navigated the landscape while relying on his agent at The·Team (formerly Wasserman Media Group) to get a sense for where he fits into the draft picture. Thornton has had conversations with former Buckeyes and Big Ten players, including Ohio State’s Shannon Scott (also a Milton alumnus) and Michigan’s Danny Wolf, for further insight into the process. Ohio State coach Jake Diebler and his staff have supported him through the process, and Briggans said current DePaul and former Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann has done the same.
“Some people did two workouts [for teams],” Briggans said. “Some people did six workouts. His number of workouts was way higher than that. It’s like, just show up and do your best. If that’s your best that day, you give your best that day.”
USA Today’s mock draft has Thornton going with the No. 50 pick. ESPN projects him to go No. 43, and The Athletic has him at No. 44 in its mock draft. The odds are that he will come off the board sometime during the second round, which gets underway the evening of June 24.
It’s not something Thornton and his family have ever really discussed before. Whether he was in high school or college, the focus was on improving where they were, not on finding the quickest route to the NBA, Briggans said. Now, on the eve of the draft, that reality is on the doorstep.
“I asked him, ‘Does it feel weird that Ohio State is practicing and you’re not there?’ ” she said. “He was like, ‘Mom, I did my four years.’ He’s content. He’s not scared. You’ve got to grow up now. You’re ready.
“He’s like, ‘I think I’ve done everything I was supposed to do to get to where I am and prepare myself, so yeah, I’m ready. It’s time for me to go.’ ”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton, family ready to learn NBA draft fate
Reporting by Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
