BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Santa Clara pipeline to the NBA is alive and well. Allen Graves became the latest Bronco to join the NBA ranks on Tuesday evening as the Toronto Raptors picked him up with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft. He is the third former Bronco to be selected in the first round over the last five years, joining Jalen Williams (12^th overall in 2022) and Brandin Podziemski (19^th overall in 2023).

Santa Clara is the only mid-major program with a first round selection in three of the last five drafts, and is one of just six NCAA Division I programs to produce a top-20 selection in three of the last five drafts joining Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky.

Graves becomes the Broncos' sixth first round selection in NBA Draft history, joining Podziemski, Williams, Steve Nash (15^th overall in 1996), Bud Ogden (13^th overall in 1969) and Ken Sears (fourth overall in 1955). Dick O'Keefe was the ninth overall selection of the 1947 Basketball Association of America Draft – the precursor to the NBA. In total, Graves is the 29th Bronco to be drafted in program history.  

A two-time state champion at Ponchatoula High School in Louisiana, Graves originally signed with Santa Clara in 2024. After sitting out the 2024-25 season with a non-medical redshirt, he quickly established himself as one of the top players in the West Coast Conference in 2025-26, earning both WCC Freshman and Sixth Man of the Year honors after posting 11.8 points per game. Appearing in all 35 games with just four starts, Graves helped lead the Broncos to their second-most wins in program history (26), the most conference wins in program history (15), a spot in the WCC Tournament Final for the first time since 2007 and an at-large bid to the 2026 NCAA Tournament – the program's first bid since 1996.

Graves, who won a program-record six WCC Freshman of the Week honors, ranked third on the team in scoring and was the Broncos' top rebounder at 6.5 boards per game. He also had a knack at capitalizing on takeaways with 67 total steals on the season, tied for the ninth-most in program history and tied with Baylor's Tounde Yessoufou for the most by a freshman in 2025-26.

Graves shot 51.2 percent from the floor and 41.3 percent from beyond the arc and reached double figure scoring in 26 games. He averaged 13.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists at the Credit Union 1 WCC Championship to earn All-Tournament honors, and had a memorable outing in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against 7-seed Kentucky with 17 points and seven rebounds.