The Nitty Gritty Behind Bryson Warren’s Aggies Turn Shines Light on Meleek’s NBA Decision

The 6’3” guard soared to five-star status after averaging 24.1 points and leading Little Rock Central High to the 6A state title game in 2021. Warren became the first sophomore to be named High School Player of the Year by the Arkansas Basketball Coaches’ Association.

Then-Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman recruited him heavily, and Arkansas was the only school he ended up visiting — his lengthy offer list also included the likes of Kansas, Texas Tech and Auburn. But he ended up taking his talents to the Overtime Elite apparatus for his final two years of high school.

At the time, the compensation he earned at OTE disqualified him from playing in the NCAA, so he was effectively choosing to skip college altogether at the time. In doing so, Warren ended up becoming the first Arkansan athlete to forgo college and head straight to the NBA G League in 2023.

But thanks to the nonexistent NCAA eligibility guardrails, Warren is back at the “amateur” level after committing to the Aggies. He joins Memphis transfer PJ Haggerty, who ranked fourth nationally in scoring last season at 23.4 points per game, to form what figures to be one of the better backcourts in the SEC.

Warren averaged 19.8 points, 5.0 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals for the Westchester (N.Y.) Knicks this season while shooting 43% from the field and 39% from behind the arc. His scoring prowess churned up significant interest from the likes of Texas, which reportedly laid a $3 million offer at his feet, but he eventually chose the Longhorns’ in-state rivals.

As far as his home-state school is concerned, a source told Best of Arkansas Sports that Warren would have committed to the Razorbacks if Calipari had shown interest in him, but that phone call from the Head Hog never came.

That can be seen as a major bread crumb on the Thomas front, assuming Calipari knew of Warren’s stance on a homecoming. If Coach Cal turned down a slam-dunk opportunity to bring in a high-scoring Arkansas native on the perimeter, he must feel fairly confident that Thomas is coming back.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that Calipari didn’t want to dirty his hands by adding a former NBA G Leaguer to his team — he’s made his stance on those guys playing college ball crystal clear.

But the 67-year-old also knows you need to play ball sometimes. In his words, “you can either get P’d off or peed on.” Look no further than Arkansas’ frontcourt last season for two examples of that. Calipari is firmly against guys who enter the portal year in and year out, yet Malique Ewin was at his fourth school in four years while Nick Pringle was at his fifth stop in six seasons.

As far as Thomas’ return, here’s a reading of the latest mock draft tea leaves.

Meleek Thomas’ NBA Draft Status

At the beginning of April, Thomas was absent from first-round mock drafts by Bleacher Report, Yahoo Sports, SB Nation and CBS Sports, while ESPN listed him 35th on its big board. Since then, though, a number of other stay-or-go dominoes have fallen.

A quartet of players ranked higher than Thomas on CBS Sports’ big board have announced their return to college: Thomas Haugh (Florida), Patrick Ngongba II (Duke), Flory Bidunga (Kansas to Louisville) and Braylon Mullins (Connecticut). Others like Juke Harris (Wake Forest) and Tounde Yessoufou (Baylor) are in the transfer portal and look set to return, as well.

That’s unsurprising given that NIL can give players millions more reasons to stay in college than a decade ago. Arkansas, too, will likely have to pay in the neighborhood of $3 million to retain Thomas. For reference, the rookie salary slot value for the 30th overall pick last year was $2.3 million.

Those pieces coming off the board have cleared the way for Thomas to move up in most projections:

• ESPN’s Big Board – 28th
• Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman – 29th – Cleveland Cavaliers
• CBS Sports’ Cameron Salerno – 30th – Dallas Mavericks
• CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein – Outside of First Round
• Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor – 35th – San Antonio Spurs

“Meleek Thomas got off to an excellent start in the NCAA Tournament with his shotmaking and efficiency,” NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Wasserman wrote. “He’s played with confidence, easy to see by just watching his shot diet and how decisive he looks rising up into jumpers.”

“Though there would be more interest in Thomas if he was able to showcase some playmaking,” he continued, “NBA teams could see late first-round value around his potential to provide instant offense, spot-up shooting and active defense off the bench.”

Arkansas fans will be hoping and praying he can supply those same tools to the Razorbacks for another season.

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Aside from Bryson Warren, here’s how other former G Leaguers fared at the college level:

Click to Reveal

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