Arkansas SF Adou Thiero will stay in 2025 NBA Draft, forgo senior season

Arkansas small forward Adou Thiero will remain in the 2025 NBA Draft and forgo his senior season, On3’s Joe Tipton reported. He played just one season for the Razorbacks after spending the first two years of his career at Kentucky.

Theiro averaged a career-best 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals this past season in Fayetteville. He shot an extremely efficient 54.6% from the field but missed all but five minutes of Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament run to the Sweet Sixteen due to injury.

A recent mock draft from ESPN’s Jonathan Givony had Thiero going in the second round. The Razorbacks forward made his decision to stay in the draft just hours before the deadline to withdraw, which is 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Thiero played all three seasons of his college career under John Calipari, following him from Kentucky to Arkansas. He will hope he can slide up into the first round to keep Calipari’s streak of 17 consecutive seasons with a first-round pick alive.

The 6-foot-6 forward put up 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore with the Wildcats in 2023-24. He originally committed to Calipari ahead of the 2022-23 season, ranking as the No. 266 overalll prospect and No. 32 combo guard in the cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

The 2025 NBA Draft is set to begin on June 25. Thiero is among more than 109 players who entered their names early, and we’ll see where that final numbers stands by the end of Wednesday.

What NBA Draft analysts are saying about Adou Thiero

A recent mock draft from ESPN released on May 12 had Thiero going 30th overall to the Los Angeles Clippers. Jeremy Woo noted that Thiero is an extremely talented player who likely would be projected higher if not for the injury to end the season.

“Thiero was injured at the end of the Razorbacks’ regular season and is one of the more interesting wild-card projects in this class, as an exceptional athlete who can make acrobatic plays defensively but who is otherwise raw in the skill and feel department,” he wrote.

“The fact he plays extremely hard covers up for some of his shortcomings, and at this stage of the draft, he becomes an intriguing development pick if a team can help shore up his perimeter shooting. If Thiero can make enough shots to stay on the floor, he could be an above-average defender and useful role player long term.”