Florida wing Thomas Haugh, a potential lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, has decided to return to Gainesville for his senior season, he told The Athletic.
Haugh’s decision is one of the most stunning NBA Draft calls of the last five years. The 22-year-old rising senior has accomplished just about everything one can in college basketball. He helped lead the Gators to the 2025 national championship while playing 27 minutes per game and averaging 12 points and seven rebounds per game in the NCAA Tournament. Following that performance, some NBA scouts felt Haugh had a chance to be taken in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, but he returned to school to work on his game. He made tangible improvements as a junior, averaging 17 points and six rebounds on his way to consensus second-team All-America status and leading the Gators to another No. 1 seed. This tournament run ended with an upset loss in the second round to Iowa, with Haugh managing an ankle injury that occurred in early February that affected his game down the stretch.
So why did he decide to pass up the NBA again?
“I just had a bad taste in my mouth after the loss to Iowa,” Haugh said. “I think that a lot of guys in my spot right now, and a lot of fans and people too, are probably looking at me like, ‘What is he doing?’ But in my heart and in my mind and even on the court, I just think I have so much more to prove.”
Haugh is expected to be among the highest earners in college basketball next season, with sources familiar with the decision projecting that he’s in line to make around what he’d earn in his first two NBA seasons combined if he’d been drafted in the top 20 in this year’s draft. Haugh acknowledged NIL played a role in his return to Florida, but he didn’t want people to think it was the only reason he chose to come back.
“You’re not gonna be like, it’s not (a part of it),” he said. “But I think for me personally, it’s just going out and playing with my boys again and putting on the orange and blue.”
Florida will almost certainly now be projected as the preseason No. 1 team for 2026-27. Haugh’s return gives the Gators two potential All-Americans in the frontcourt with he and Alex Condon. The team also has real potential to return NABC National Defensive Player of the Year Rueben Chinyelu at center after he decided not to enter the transfer portal and declare for the NBA Draft while maintaining his collegiate eligibility on Monday. Additionally, guards Boogie Fland and Urban Klavzar are locked in. Florida recently received a transfer commitment from Denzel Aberdeen, a bench player on the team’s 2025 national title winner, who moved to Kentucky last year and averaged 13.5 points per game as a starter. Aberdeen will need a waiver from the NCAA to return to Florida and compete next year after playing 12 games as a freshman in Gainesville in 2022-23. Florida coach Todd Golden said Monday the school is confident in Aberdeen’s case.
That Haugh’s return even came up as an option was as much of a surprise to Florida’s staff as it will be to Gators’ fans. Florida’s staff had resigned itself to Haugh leaving at the end of the year and supported that decision, given his status as a potential lottery pick.
“Initially, because of how well he played from the start of the year through the whole season, he had risen in stature in our conversations with NBA scouts to where we assumed it was the natural next step,” Golden said.
However, after the loss to Iowa, Haugh approached the coaches about what a potential return would look like, not the other way around. From that point, it was just about getting a deal done, as opposed to Florida recruiting him back to the roster.
“He comes from a really good, thoughtful family and they sat down wanted to know all of their options,” Golden said. “Obviously the NBA is incredibly appealing and has been a goal of his, but they wanted to know what it looked like if they wanted to pause that journey for a year? When they circled back with us, we got to work and started to talk to the people we needed to in order to provide a decision where it didn’t have to be about money, it could just be about what he wanted to do.”
“Thomas is an example of the good that has come from the NIL era in college sports,” Haugh’s agent, Aaron Klevan of The Team, said. “His dream has always been to be a Gator. We were able to craft a plan with the university to go along with traditional endorsement deals that kept that dream alive for another year while allowing Thomas to continue to grow as a basketball player in order to make an impact in the NBA from day one.”
Haugh said he’ll put away most of the money he earns in college, but he does plan to buy a boat as his one gift to himself. An avid fisherman, Haugh loves getting away from phones and the digital lifestyle that college students are thrust into by hopping on a boat and fishing as an escape.
Haugh will certainly be projected as a 2027 lottery pick. And if he makes improvements as an on-ball defender and shooter — similarly to how Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg did this season on his way to leading the Wolverines to a national title — he could be a top-10 pick in what is seen as a weaker draft class at the top. He moved full-time to the small forward role last season after playing as a big throughout his career. Haugh believes his game still has a lot of room for growth.
“Last year was my first time playing the three,” Haugh said. “I was getting pretty comfortable. But having a year under my belt playing it already, I think it’s going to be huge for me. I really liked being able to cut and being able to play on the perimeter.
“Between Condo, Rueben, Boogie and Xaivian (Lee) last year, we had a number of phenomenal passers. I adjusted coming off ball screens a little bit better, just being on the wing, making smart plays, hitting the pick-and-roll, taking advantage of switches or drop coverages, learning about those. Basically, when teams throw different stuff at you, how do you react? I think that’s gonna help my basketball IQ in general.”
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