Early in the offseason, in the wake of Michigan’s national championship, there was some lingering hope that Aday Mara would be back in Maize and Blue next season. The former five-star center was dominant in the NCAA Tournament and declared for the NBA Draft, but he retained his eligibility, and maybe one strong season wouldn’t be enough to convince the league.
That ship has sailed. Mara has been rising draft boards since the offseason began, and on Monday at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, he may have cemented a spot in the lottery without so much as taking the floor or touching a basketball.
Mara turned heads and dropped jaws simply with his measurements, checking in at a solid 7-foot-3 barefoot with a 7-foot-6 wingspan and a 9-foot-9 standing reach, tied for the second-longest in Combine history.
Michigan's Aday Mara measured 7'3 barefoot and 260 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine, with a 7'6 wingspan and 9'9 standing reach.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 11, 2026
Absolutely absurd measurements. Tied with Mark Williams for the second-longest standing reach in Combine history, behind only Tacko Fall. pic.twitter.com/FvZ41Kv1jo
Aday Mara’s 9-foot-9 standing reach will lock him in the top half of the 1st round
Everyone in the NBA knew that Mara was big. That was certainly no mystery. However, confirming that he is, in fact, 7-foot-3 barefoot and taller in shoes, and that he has a ridiculous standing reach, was the confirmation that the league needed.
Not that Mara is a stiff by any stretch of the imagination, but if you’re a bit of a slow mover and don’t have a reliable outside shot, you had better have elite NBA size to stick as a starting center and play major minutes. Mara does, and the team drafting him can have full confidence he’ll be a difference-maker on the defensive end, a true anchor at the rim who you can build a defensive scheme around.
Mara’s 11.9 percent block rate was 99th percentile in college basketball (per CBBanalytics.com), so again, none of that should come as a surprise. When he was on the floor last season, opponents shot just 54.7 percent at the rim and only attempted 20.9 percent of their field goals there, which was 99th percentile.
A player of Mara’s size isn’t just a great shot-blocker; they’re also the ultimate deterrent at the rim, and while it’s difficult to quantify, that adds serious value. To be a legitimate deterrent in the NBA, again, you need outlier size and outlier length. Mara has both.
The NBA still values centers
There will undoubtedly be times when Mara gets played off the floor by small lineups, but the NBA, like college basketball, is getting bigger. If Zach Edey can develop into a reliable starting center, as he has for Memphis, despite injuries robbing him of most of his second year in the league, Mara certainly can. Mara had better defensive metrics and a more translatable offensive game as a quality passer out of the high post and a lob-threat at the rim.
Even as a much older prospect two years ago, Edey snuck into the top 10 of the 2024 NBA Draft. Admittedly, that class was not nearly as stocked with talent as this year's, but the way the league valued Edey is instructive for Mara, who may also work his way into the top 10.
The 2026 NBA Draft is loaded with elite one-and-done talent from one of the best freshmen classes in college basketball history. Yet, Mara is such a physical specimen that he’ll work his way into the lottery because there’s no mystery about his path to success in the NBA.
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