Braden Smith was taken with the 38th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
His Purdue Boilermakers backcourt mate, Fletcher Loyer, is dealing with a different fate.
Loyer is still hoping to find a team to play for.
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Is Fletcher Loyer going to the NBA?
Loyer wasn’t drafted in the 60 picks of the NBA Draft between Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
He was eligible for the draft, so he now moves into undrafted free agency. There, he can sign with any team.
Of course, that requires an offer. As of Thursday morning, there was no reported Loyer deal yet.
There will be questions about Loyer’s overall game, but he has one skill that could make him indispensable in the right system in the NBA: his shooting.
Loyer shot 43.2% from 3-point range on high volume in his final season at Purdue.
Over a 149-game college career with the Boilermakers, Loyer made 41.1% of his shots from beyond the arc.
He’s such a clearly exceptional shooter that Loyer should get a shot in Summer League, and then it’ll be up to him to make so many shots that his team can’t let him go.
It’s an uphill climb as an undrafted player, but for a shooter like Loyer, it’s not impossible.