Confident in his NBA draft chances, Tyler Bilodeau said he didn’t have a Plan B.
He won’t need one.
The former UCLA star’s belief was rewarded Wednesday evening when he was taken before the midpoint of the second round, the Brooklyn Nets selecting him with the No. 43 pick.
That beat pretty much every projection for the 6-foot-9 forward whose intriguing combination of size and shooting offset concerns about his defense.
Bilodeau is an elite shooter for a frontcourt player, having led the Big Ten Conference last season by making 46.4% of his 3-pointers while shooting 51.8% overall.
“Floor spacing, kind of like my shooting ability, I think that’s definitely my strong suit and what teams like,” Bilodeau told the California Post last month.
Positional versatility is another plus, with Bilodeau saying he could play some small forward or small-ball five after having logged minutes at center for parts of two seasons at UCLA.
After showing significant promise in two seasons at Oregon State, Bilodeau became an immediate impact player as a Bruin during the 2024-25 season.
He led UCLA in scoring last season, averaging 17.6 points, and finished second on the team with 5.6 rebounds per game. He missed most of the last four games after going down with a knee injury against Michigan State during the Big Ten Tournament.
Rehabbing his knee has come with the benefit of strengthening his quad muscle, which Bilodeau said should make him more explosive with his movement.
Defense has been the big knock on Bilodeau, though he never lacked for effort and became at least passable by the end of his college career.
Bilodeau became only the second UCLA player drafted in the last three years after Adem Bona was taken in the second round in 2024. Perhaps the Bruins’ results over that same span – missing the NCAA tournament in 2024, followed by back-to-back second-round tournament exits – should come as no surprise given the lack of high-end talent.