Bruce Thornton Scouting Report
While returning for his fourth year at Ohio State, Bruce Thornton has the makings of being a first-rounder in the 2026 NBA Draft. Here's why he's already one of the top upperclassmen next year:
Bruce Thornton (#2, Ohio St.): Junior, 6'2"
Point Guard — Born: Sep 14, 2003 (21 years old)
Introduction
As a back-to-back All-Big Ten guard, Thornton brings readiness to the next level. He has been the leading engine for the Buckeyes, who were in contention to earn a tournament bid for the entire season. While scoring over 18 points per game on good efficiency, Thornton brings maturity to the table. The game has slowed down for him, and this helped him embrace his role as Ohio State’s leader.
For the next level, Thornton offers the role of a traditional floor general. But there’s much more to his game. With the league’s trend where we see fewer undersized guards sticking, Thornton has to bring close to elite intangibles to stand a chance. That’s the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, Thornton has an NBA-ready body with a good frame and broad shoulders. His game is built on angles and fundamentals rather than exploiting his athleticism. He has big hands and decently long arms. He’s tough, yet patient while using his hip fluidity to keep balance at all times. He's continuously getting better at disrupting an opponent’s balance.
His core strength continues to improve. Despite a lack of verticality, Thornton wins ground in defensive box-outs and stands out as a rebounder. There is no official measurement available, but Thornton should have a wingspan of around 6’6”.
Offense

Self-creation out of pick-and-roll
Patience. Angles. Handles. Thornton’s game as a ball handler immediately stood out. His high understanding of angles and great composure make it possible for him to create space and separation with his craft and tight handles. He’s a creative scorer out of the pick-and-roll with a traditional midrange-focused scoring game. The lack of burst doesn’t get him downhill consistently, but with a strong floater in his arsenal, Thornton already compensates for it.
But there are areas to work on. Thornton plays with good changes of pace that help him time his attacks on a defender’s chest wall. That’s his mechanism to generate separation and the right angle for his floater or layup at the rim. But the lack of speed makes it a one-dimensional way of scoring where Thornton can struggle against length and size. The first play below shows an example where Thornton couldn’t create separation with his strength and had to settle for an unbalanced layup on a bad angle.
In the second possession, Thornton hit the deck but kept his balance. The positive in his profile is that his tight handles help him to keep a scoring threat, even when out of balance. As a more traditional scorer, he’s reliable as a midrange shooter with a quick pull-up jumper. Another area of intrigue for NBA scouts is his great hip flexibility. In the third play, Thornton couldn’t blow by his man, but the effortless body balancing before the layin was impressive. That’s one of his main values as an NBA pick-and-roll scorer.
But to stick in the NBA, guards have to show elite traits. And that’s what Thornton worked on in his junior year. His pull-up shooting from three out of the pick-and-roll continues to get better. Despite the miss in the fourth play below, the angle creation and patience are the intangibles NBA scouts seek to see how feasible further improvement is.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
Thornton is a creative passer, but he doesn’t overcomplicate the game for the sake of it. He always seeks easy-passing reads and executions. That’s scalable to run more creative plays, as the base will always be his quick decision-making. While having an assist-to-turnover ratio of over three for his entire college career. His playmaking fits what NBA teams try to do in playing at a higher pace. Instead of passing ahead in transition, Thornton leverages his tight handles and guard role to draw the attention of multiple defenders, which helps him to find open teammates while moving up the court. That’s put on display in the first two plays below.
One of the reasons why Thornton is such an efficient playmaker is that he makes the game easier for himself. And that’s one of the more difficult things to do, especially in the NBA. The game slowed down for him. His court vision is another factor that helps Thornton process the floor so seamlessly. In the third play, he’s making a clever play of pivoting his foot, selling the defense the idea he’ll make a chest pass to a teammate nearby. Hereafter, he dished it to the above-the-break shooter instead.
Passing and playmaking shouldn’t be flashy. The true art of top playmakers is the ones who can play simply while the defense expects the unexpected. That’s one of the traits Thornton brings. The post-entry pass in the fourth play while using his on-ball leverage to draw away help defenders was a clever play. In the fifth play, Thorton’s cutting got him two feet inside the paint. Hereafter, the touch pass to the backdoor cutter was a split-second decision that completely took away the interior defense that went all-in to stop a potential Thornton layup.
Closeouts
Thornton’s creativity and tight handles help him to easily scale his game down to the next level. He can complement a ball-touch-heavy guard with his self-creation out of closeouts. While playing a traditional midrange-shooting game, Thornton has no issues in creating separation for his stepbacks or sudden floaters, as his jab steps and ball fakes are at a high level. In the first play, he shakes his opponent out of balance before creating the clean angle after the crossover.
In the second possession, Thornton shows how fluid his handles and quick decision-making are. He’s looking to change directions before seeing the trap coming. Hereafter, he solidly drove to the paint and created the midrange angle for him. His confidence was telling, as he didn’t look for a bailout pass but played the angles the defense gave him. In the third play, Thornton shows his most vital NBA skill as a guard with fewer ball touches: his floater. His excellent ball fake was followed up by a good pivot to attack the rim. Hereafter, he used his floater when seeing the help defense arrive.
His creativity, handles, composure, and decision-making in tight spaces make it feasible for his self-creation out of closeouts to be a guarantee for NBA scouts, which improves his draft value.
Catch-and-shoot
At 42.4% on over four attempts per game, Thornton has the best shooting season of his career so far. The entire process looks feasible for the NBA. The most appealing trait of his shot mechanics is the strong pivot, mostly with his left when setting his feet. Thornton can shoot off the dribble, preferably one or two dribbles or off the catch. He’s good at using his strength by not lowering the ball too much. That’s making a quick release more translatable at the next level.
The first play shows an example. He needs the jump stop after the catch in movement, but the pull-up and jump spot were perfectly in sync, making it look seamless for Thornton to shoot over the closeout defender. In the second possession, he’s quick with his release, considering how strong the last step was. Despite being trapped in the corner, Thornton didn’t need much time to get his shot off, using his strong left pivot as his elevation to rise fluidly for his shot.
That continues in the third and fourth plays below. Regardless of what the shooting outcome would be this season, Thornton’s jump shot mechanics are the translatable and most vital part of seeing NBA minutes consistently.
Defense
Pick-and-roll
Defensively, the lack of size will be the first thing NBA scouts look to mitigate. Therefore, it’s a must that Thornton brings an above-average trait to the table. Considering the NBA game turning into a mismatch-hunting contest, undersized guards are often targets. However, Thornton shows decent screen navigation with great defensive footwork. That’s the base for him to grow into a better pick-and-roll defender. But the lack of lateral quickness takes away most value of his great footwork. Thornton slides his feet fluidly and has a strong last step. His strength makes it more likely he’ll hold his balance, as his decision-making is good against jab steps and fakes.
At under two personal fouls for three straight years, Thornton plays within control despite not shying away from showing his toughness. In the first play, he’s guarding up close, using his strong feet and body to force the ball handler to physically beat him before entering the lane. He’s often embracing contact in the pick-and-roll, as his strong upper body allows him to maintain better balance when colliding with ball screens, as shown in the second play below.
In the third possession, Thornton does everything well while keeping a good shot contest with the shot clock winding down. Therefore, the ball going in isn’t relevant, as he has shown good footwork and balance despite the high ball screen. It’s feasible that he’ll continue to guard fluidly in the pick-and-roll. However, the main issue is Thornton not handling dribble penetration against quicker guards well, considering the lack of lateral quickness.
Hand-offs
Screen navigation continues to be the most vital part of Thornton’s defensive evaluation. His toughness and aggressive stance make him embrace physicality. His footwork and awareness are good enough to detect incoming screens well. But just like every NBA player, he’ll give up separation at times. The most essential part here is how Thornton responds. He’s active in his rotations and doesn’t shy away from keeping the tag in his assignment to still bother scorers.
In the first play, Thornton hits the deck but still tries to box out for the defensive rebound, which is a positive. In the second possession, Thornton’s again colliding with the ball screen, but his toughness here to still try and tag his man was put on notice, on top of his right rotation to defend the top of the key for potential kickout passes. Regardless, his screen navigation is at a good level, with the third play as an example. Thornton fights through the triple stagger before cleanly contesting the field goal attempt.
The most vital part is his last step after coming through screens. That helps him elevate his shot contest, with the fourth play below showing an example. This part of the evaluation will convince many NBA scouts of Thornton’s ability against ball screens.
Closeouts
With great footwork, Thornton likes to set the tone early in his closeouts. He has one of the best last steps among guards I’ve evaluated in this draft class. It’s nitpicking here, but after the last step, he lacks the twitchiness and athleticism to immediately burst and take his next step. His strong pivot compensates for most of this, but against elite NBA athletes, that’s where Thornton will still struggle. Regardless, he’ll be an above-average closeout defender at the next level.
He’s embracing physicality and toughness, making the most of his strong upper body. In the first play, Thornton pivots out too far with his right, and that’s where he gives up the separation due to the aforementioned struggles to burst after his last step. Regardless, he has shown a good shot contest as he’s compensating for it with his effort. That continues in the second play below. Thornton again needs time to correct his stance after the last step, but despite the lack of size, he’s using his standing reach very well to form a wall and deny the scorer to finish over him.
The vital part of his evaluation is shown in the third play below. Thornton pivots with his right on his last step which helps him to elevate for his burst better when the scorer is driving on the same side as his last step. He’s much more struggling with his left. This makes it more feasible for the NBA coaching staff, who could help him improve on that end, as it’s the difference between being a good and excellent closeout defender. Regardless, this is an area of his defensive profile where Thornton can grow into a niche role at the next level.
Catch-and-shoot
When closing out against shooters, Thornton shows a good trait of immediately diving for the shot contest when planting his last step. He’s composed and doesn’t get vulnerable to be shot-faked. The main reason that helps him is that his lack of burst and lateral quickness makes him lean more toward stopping dribble penetration, rather than fully focusing on catch-and-shoot threes as most NBA players will likely shoot over him. It’s more hedging the worst outcome, but for NBA scouts a positive regardless, considering the lack of true size.
In the first play, Thornton pivots strong with his right, not biting immediately on dribble penetration which had a kick-out pass coming from miles away. That’s a positive, as Thornton is often not overhelping. This helped him to use his hip flexibility to change direction and dive for the contest against the elbow shooter. In the second possession, Thornton was too far inside the paint, as he helped against dribble penetration. His physicality often leads him to take on stronger players. For NBA standards, it’s a no-go to close out so much of a distance that it’s simply better to focus on the defensive box out.
But Thornton consistently makes the right decisions. With the shot clock winding down, he knew that helping in the post would have only bailed out the opponent, as he kept the zonal defense alive to either deflect or quickly react to the bailout pass to the above-the-break shooter. With his experience as Thornton’s advantage, the closeouts add intrigue to his NBA value.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Bruce Thornton to be a late first-rounder in the 2026 NBA Draft. He’s returning to school for his senior year, with NIL being a major factor. Despite his readiness, it’s an understandable role as he fits into a decently rare archetype of skilled and tight-handled point guards who bring scalability, but also creativity. As of now, Thornton should be one of the frontrunners to win Big Ten Player of the Year in next year’s campaign, which will continue to fuel his draft stock.