Upside and Motor: Johni Broome will not be denied

The 2025 NBA Draft landscape shifts each and every day. We are roughly halfway through the college basketball regular season, but there is still so much unsettled with the upcoming rookie crop. After the rather dull 2024 draft cycle, folks are justifiably excited about the sheer volume of potential star power lurking in the 2025 class.

It's only natural to gear one's attention toward the flashy freshmen — the long-hyped five-star recruits, such as Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, or Ace Bailey. But, as with any draft, there is a group of undeniably productive and efficient upperclassmen looking to play spoiler around the top of the draft.

That brings us to Auburn senior Johni Broome, in his fifth college campaign (and third with the Tigers). A strong 2024 NCAA Tournament put Broome firmly on the draft radar, but he opted to return to school and beef up his resume. That was a wise decision. Broome's stock is soaring, despite being a year older and battling more "competition" for a first round selection.

Broome has a strong case for National Player of the Year right now, and he's leading the charge for arguably college basketball's most dominant group. The Tigers are 13-1, with a six-point loss to Cooper Flagg's Duke as their only blemish. We know this Auburn team is extremely well coached and profoundly connected, with Broome operating as the gravitational center around which the Tigers orbit.

It's past time for NBA scouts to take notice.

Auburn's Johni Broome is too dominant to ignore in NBA Draft conversations

Broome has confounded scouts in the past with questions over his position and projected NBA fit. Is he a center or a forward? Can he hold up in space defensively? Is he big enough to adequately protect the rim or defend the post against NBA competition?

All are — or at least were — valid questions, but Broome's dominance has reached the point where nitpicking feels a bit futile. At least insofar as arguing against him as a viable first-round selection. This is not to say teams should select the 6-foot-10, 235 pound 22-year-old in the top five, but Broome's statistical profile and impact on team success is impossible to refute.

He presently leads college basketball in BPM. He's the SEC's leading rebounder (11.1) and shot-blocker (2.7), averaging a career high in assists (3.3) and a career low in turnovers (1.2) — the last point coming despite a serious uptick in usage. Broome is scoring 18.6 points on efficient .570/.300/.600 splits. There aren't too many holes to poke in his game.

Broome is not the most laterally swift big man, nor does he tower over the competition. Boasting a 7-foot wingspan and 9-foot standing reach, there will be NBA centers who can score over the top of Broome, despite his strength and efforts at physicality. Smart offenses will also look to isolate him in space and attack.

That said, Broome has tremendous instincts on the back line. He's an incredibly sound team defender — and not lacking in terms of brute-force strength. So long as his NBA team puts enough length and versatility around him, Broome should be able to exert a positive impact on that end of the floor. His penchant for ending possessions on the glass doesn't hurt. Broome plays extremely hard and will often offset his physical limitations with sheer effort.

As for the offense, Broome has become the centerpiece of college basketball's most potent scheme. He's doing a bit of everything — tiptoeing around defenders in the post, running DHOs on the perimeter, drilling spot 3s. Auburn uses him as a true hub, and every NBA team is looking for a big with genuine passing equity these days.

Broome's IQ and playmaking instincts continue to shine. He has, again, improved both his assist volume and ball security this season, a common trend throughout Broome's career. He may not move all that well laterally, but Broome is very shifty and elusive when he's driving the lane. That's not to say he is a primary creator, but Broome does an excellent job of leveraging his strength, as well as mixing speeds and dribble cadence, to attack seams in the defense as a face-up scorer.

He poses a somewhat classical triple threat on the perimeter. Auburn will station Broome at the top of the key and run actions through him, giving the 22-year-old options to facilitate, stick a jumper, or drive the lane. He's not the most efficient 3-point shooter historically, and his lack of free throw success is a concern, but Broome's volume has peaked this season (2.9 attempts per game) and he displays soft touch around the basket, so there's reason to believe he can at least become a league-average 3-point threat on reasonable volume in due time.

A good point of comparison is probably Houston Rockets big man Alperen Sengun. Broome lacks the same brazen creativity as a playmaker, but there are similarities when it comes to size, physical profile, and scoring instincts. That is the hope for Broome at the next level — that his diverse, malleable offensive skill set and committed physicality can offset whatever athletic concerns linger.

Broome is having a very special season and there's no sign of regression on the horizon. Expect him to continue drawing headlines as a result.

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Who are the top five Rookie of the Year candidates right now?

The 2024 draft class lost its clear top performer to injury when Jared McCain suffered a torn meniscus in December. With the 76ers rookie done for the year, the race for the league's top first-year prize has devolved into a somewhat dire affair. We are used to burgeoning stars competing for this award. Right now, it feels like a battle of niche role players.

All the same, there's plenty of talent and promise in this mix. Here are the five most worthy Rookie of the Year candidates to date.

We can sit here and ding Ajay Mitchell for limited playing time, but consider the circumstances. He has broken through on one of the league's deepest — and best — teams, forcing OKC to trot him out for 16.5 minutes per game in a backcourt that includes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, and Isaiah Joe. Mitchell has been the hand-in-glove fit we all imagined in the Thunder offense, putting pressure on the rim, hitting a few spot 3s, and thriving in an ecosystem that promotes constant motion.

Memphis has unearthed another gem, this time in second-round pick Jaylen Wells. The rookie has started 32 of 37 games for the West's No. 3 seed, averaging 25.8 minutes per game. His 3-point efficiency has regressed to the mean after a scorching start, but Wells' instincts as an off-ball mover, connector, and play-finisher continue to pop. Few rookies get to contribute so much on a genuine contender.

Don't look now, but shots are starting to fall for Alex Sarr, the reigning No. 2 pick. The skinny Frenchman struggled with his scoring efficiency early in the campaign, but Sarr has been an absolute whirlwind on defense the whole way through (1.6 blocks in 27.3 minutes). There just aren't many 7-footers on this planet who move like Sarr. If his recent uptick in 3-point success is real, and the offense starts to coalesce, he might have the highest ceiling of this rookie class.

Zach Edey has been the favorite for this award all along. The only thing holding him back right now is injuries, with Edey appearing in 12 fewer games to date than the rookie ranked No. 1 on this list. That said, Edey has settled into a productive niche for Memphis, scoring with his trademark efficiency in the post and even stretching his game out to the 3-point line on occasion. Edey has also been pleasantly impactful as a rim protector out of the gate, which should keep skeptics at bay.

Yves Missi has been extremely impressive in a dire situation, giving the Pelicans a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. We can't possibly know what will happen with this team over the next several months, but Missi looks the part of a genuine building block. His rim protection and defensive versatility has popped, of course, but more impressive is Missi's immediate offensive polish. Missi has always been a tier-one athlete, but the face-up scoring chops and strong connective instincts are well beyond what we saw at Baylor.

Who holds the belt right now? A mini-NBA mock draft