A major piece of Michigan basketball’s 2025-26 national championship squad appears to be on the way out.
Center Aday Mara, one of the most unique and gifted big men in college basketball this past season, has decided to enter the name 2026 NBA Draft but keep his college eligibility, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t permitted to speak publicly.
The 7-foot 3, 255-pound big man out of Zaragoza, Spain just finished his third collegiate season and still has a year of eligibility remaining, but it seems as though he likely won’t use it.
Fellow Michigan big man Morez Johnson Jr. also declared for the NBA Draft on Friday, April 24.
The Wolverines landed a commitment from former Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella just days after winning the national title and on Friday, April 24, got a commitment from highly-touted former Cincinnati big man Moustapha Thiam.
Mara flourished in his lone season in Ann Arbor, a focal point of Michigan’s best team in program history as he was named third-team All-Big Ten and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Mara averaged 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game − his 104 swats marked a program record for U-M − and was the anchor for the top-ranked 2-point defense in the nation.
Mara was an elite finisher this past year, too, making 81% of shots at the rim which only fell to 72% on non-dunks.
“In a class that is light on obvious high-upside talent at center, Mara’s unusual mix of skills, coupled with his huge frame, warrants more serious consideration from teams looking to address that position,” writes ESPN’s Jeremy Woo. “He’s an excellent passer, skilled with the ball and shot 66.8% from the field, with the sheer size to be a deterrent defensively.
“It’s a unique mix of traits that should, at the very least, help him succeed as a change-of-pace option in the NBA.”
Woo has Mara listed as the No. 14 overall prospect in this draft, which would mean he’s a lottery selection. It’s quite the transformation after he spent two years at UCLA with minimal returns, scoring more than 16 points just once in 61 games, and averaging just 6.4 points and four rebounds in his more productive sophomore season.
It seemed likely that Mara, who turned 21 last week, would at least test the NBA draft waters after he had an excellent postseason, averaging 14.7 points and 5.7 boards. He also shot 78.6% from the free-throw line in the NCAA Tournament − he was trending up in that department for months, shooting 74% from the foul line (37-for-50) over the final 20 games of the season.
“It was funny, because in practice I was making all the free throws,” Mara said last month. “In practice, we always have to make a couple free throws to win the game, so it counts. [Dusty May] was telling me to shoot those free throws, and I was making those. I was just telling all the coaches I come to practice and I have, like, 80-90% and then I go to the games and they didn’t go in.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Aday Mara NBA Draft: Michigan big man declares, keeps his eligibility