The NBA Combine officially got underway this week in Chicago. After being left off the invite list last year, Bruce Thornton was given the opportunity to show he belongs in the NBA, receiving an invite this year. So far, the four-year captain for Ohio State is taking advantage of that invitation with an impressive start to his combine process.
2026 AWS NBA Draft Combine anthro measurements for Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton:
— Jon Chepkevich (@JonChep) May 12, 2026
6’0" barefoot, 223 pounds with a 6’5" wingspan and 8’0 ½" standing reach pic.twitter.com/MgZMLxVfmr
The measurements came back for the Ohio State guard. Thornton was measured with a height of 6 feet exactly while barefoot, weighed 223 pounds, had a wingspan of 6-foot-5, and a standing reach of just over 8 feet. For comparison, at Ohio State Bruce Thornton is listed at 6-foot-2 and weighed 215 pounds, so he's put on a few extra pounds of muscle training before the combine.
Thornton left Ohio State as the all-time leading scorer, and he averaged 19.9 points per game in his senior year. While in Columbus, Thornton was best with the ball in his hands. He shot the ball at a 55.4% clip from the field, which was a career-high for him in the Scarlet and Gray. That shotmaking ability was on full display on Day 1 at the NBA Combine.
Thornton got off to a good start in the shooting off the dribble drill; he made 20 of his 30 attempts, which ranked tied for 8th of the 26 participants in the drill. Shooting the ball while on the move was an area Thornton really thrived while at Ohio State.
During Thornton's senior year, he shot the three at a 40% rate on 4.6 attempts per game. At the combine, he came in 4th in the three-point shooting drill, connecting on 17 of the 25 threes he took. This ranked higher than Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic and Iowa's Bennett Stirtz - two of the best shooters in College Basketball last season.
The shooting wasn't as great in the spot-up drill as he only made 10 out of 25 shot attempts, which ranked 20th of all the participants yesterday. However, Thornton finished his shooting drills strong in the Side-Mid-Side, going 15 for 27, which was good enough for a top 10 ranking in the drill.
For the Strength and Agility drills, Thornton logged a 35.5-inch max vertical and a 29.5 inch no-step vertical jump. He also recorded an impressive 3.25-second 3/4 Court Sprint and a 3.01-second Shuttle Run.
Right now, NBA mock drafts are projecting Thornton to get drafted in the middle to late part of the second round. ESPN's Jeremy Woo is projecting the four-year Buckeye Captain to be selected 55th overall by the New York Knicks.
Thornton will have a great chance to showcase his skills in the 5-on-5 scrimmages which will be played on Wednesday afternoon. He'll be representing Team Carpenter and will get the chance to share the court with some of the top prospects in this draft class in front of a lot of NBA scouts. If Thornton is going to rise up draft boards, playing well in these scrimmages will be the best opportunity for him to do that.
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