The 2025 NBA season winding down means that we’re quickly approaching the NBA draft. Holding four selections, 5, 21, 43, and 53, the Utah Jazz will be one of the major players on draft night.
As we continue to dive into prospects who the Jazz could be interested in, we’ll next travel down to Arkansas to talk about Razorback wing Adou Thiero, the uber-athletic junior who made a major jump this past season.
Stats: 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.7 blocks, 54.5% FG, 25.6% 3P, 68.8% FT
Draft Range: Mid-first to early second round
Thiero is arguably the best athlete in this draft class. He’s 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wingspan and is as supremely quick off the floor. While he didn’t participate in the athletic testing at the draft combine, I guess that he would’ve had some of the most impressive numbers from the whole event.
This athleticism makes him a tantalizing defensive prospect because not only is he a great vertical athlete, but he also possesses the length, quickness, and toughness to be an awesome point of attack defender and terror off-ball. He’s an excellent defensive playmaker, boasting steal and block rates similar to Mikal Bridges before he was drafted.
Offensively, Thiero is a slashing wing whose attacking style puts a ton of pressure on opposing defenses. So while he isn’t an effective perimeter shooter at this stage, he does enough elsewhere on offense to believe he can be more than just a defensive specialist.
Thiero posted a 69.2 free throw rate (FTr) this season, a number that was one of the best in college basketball and the best mark for first-round draft hopefuls. This free throw rate shows how overwhelming Thiero is as a driver due to his speed, strength, handle, and vertical pop.’
His efficiency around the basket is also elite. Thiero had 45 dunks and shot 68% at the rim, both numbers which outline his athleticism, but also the upside he has as a scorer.
If you watch him attack college defenders, he can at times look like a long-lost Thompson brother. While expecting him to be in that same realm as a player is both unfair and unrealistic, the fluidity, physicality, and way defenders look overmatched is similar.
The problem with Thiero is ultimately his struggles as a perimeter shooter. He shot 28.4% from deep in his college career and just 25.6% this past season. He’s around a 70% free-throw shooter, and the shot looks fluid, but the results are not good enough for teams to respect his shot.
There lies the dilemma with Thiero: is he good enough on the ball to warrant giving him a high usage? If not, does he do enough offensively to make up for the spacing deficits from his poor perimeter shot? I think the answer is yes, but he’ll have to prove it at the NBA level.
Of my favorite prospects for the Utah Jazz at 21, Thiero is near the top of the list. In reality, he’s probably my favorite option, barring someone unexpectedly falling into Utah’s lap. His perimeter defense would be a much-needed addition for a Jazz team that ranked last in the league defensively last year. His physicality, athleticism, and attacking style would also bring them more juice offensively. I’m all aboard the Thiero hype train.
