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Sport Nation
Gaze certain Cat B Magpie will pick NBA over AFL after NCAA win
Lachlan Geleit • April 8th, 2025 8:36 pm
Collingwood Category B rookie Alex Condon is looking increasingly unlikely to ever play for the Magpies after winning the NCAA basketball championship with Florida on Tuesday (AEST).
The 20-year-old came out of US college basketball’s biggest game with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals as Florida came from behind to beat Houston in San Antonio.
Standing at 211cm, Condon plays centre for the Gators and featured in the ruck for Western Australia at the under-18 national championships before choosing to head to the states.
Although he’s been paid by and signed to Collingwood since late last year, he’ll only officially join the club if he doesn’t get drafted to the NBA, something that Aussie basketball great Andrew Gaze thinks will now certainly happen.
"He is actually signed with the Collingwood Football Club, but I think it's highly unlikely he'll ever play in a Collingwood guernsey,” Gaze said on SEN The Run Home.
"He's ranked around 15 to 20 in this year's (NBA) Draft, but might even head back to Florida for another season (instead of heading to the NBA or AFL)."
While most Category B rookies are relatively raw upon joining AFL clubs, Condon presented a unique opportunity given he was considered a potential top-five pick in the 2022 AFL Draft.
He simply qualified under Category B rules given he hasn’t played football at any level over the last three years. As a result, he garnered interest from multiple clubs including Geelong before signing with Collingwood.
Bleacher Report’s latest 2025 NBA Mock Draft has Condon joining the LA Clippers with pick 30.
His stocks could rise even further after his NCAA championship performance.
