His final season at Colorado may not have unfolded exactly the way he might’ve scripted it a year ago.
Yet Tristan da Silva and his Buffaloes teammates eventually got to where they wanted by March. The next step of da Silva’s basketball journey arrives on Wednesday night with the opening round of the 2024 NBA Draft, an event that is expected to feature the selection of three CU players — da Silva, KJ Simpson and Cody Williams — for the first time in the draft’s modern era.
Da Silva tested his draft stock a year ago before ultimately returning to CU for his senior season. It was a success by any measure both personally, with career-highs in scoring (16.0), rebounding (5.1) and assists (2.4), as well as for the team, which posted a team-record 26 wins while winning a pair of games in the NCAA Tournament.
Yet those achievements didn’t arrive easily. The Buffs struggled with injuries before getting hot late, with da Silva battling his own shooting slump in the wake of an ankle injury that sidelined him early in Pac-12 Conference play. In the NBA, either within a season or over the course of a career, similar challenges and hurdles will be inevitable. As he prepares for the next step in a journey that brought him to Boulder from Germany, da Silva’s final season at CU provided a valuable stepping stone to the next level.
“It’s going to be a whole new situation. There’s going to be a lot of learning,” da Silva said. “There was a lot of experiences and learning and maturing that was going on this past season at Colorado. Definitely something I can take with me into these next couple weeks and then the upcoming season. I look forward to getting better every single day, keep chopping wood and do what we do.
“Definitely excited. Excited and grateful.”
Da Silva was considered a fringe draft prospect at the outset of the season, but persevering through a solid but challenging senior season, followed by strong showings at the draft combine and team workouts, has da Silva pegged as a likely middle-of-the-first round selection on Wednesday night.
CU has never had a pair of players go in the first round of the modern NBA draft, but Williams and da Silva are about to set that bar. The Buffs have had three players picked in the NBA Draft just once, in 1981, when the draft was a 10-round affair instead of two. CU’s highest pick in that ’81 draft, Joe Cooper at No. 96 overall, wouldn’t have made the cut in today’s draft.
“Tristan has played his way (so) that he can possibly be a lottery pick, but I think he’s a mid-first rounder at worst,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “His stock just continues to really climb with the workouts he’s had and the interviews. All three were going to interview great because they come from great families, they’re articulate, they’re well-spoken, they’re smart, they’re good teammates. I know Tristan’s been working out and shooting the ball really well.”
Da Silva spent much of the spring working out in Miami. He went through is final team workout in Memphis on Friday before returning to Miami ahead of his journey to New York for the draft, which will be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Da Silva enjoyed one of the top performances of his senior season at that venue, nearly finishing with a triple-double (22 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists) in the Buffs’ rout of Miami. While talking to BuffZone on the eve of his return to Brooklyn, da Silva was appropriately wistful about the growth at CU that has taken him from a bench contributor on an NCAA Tournament team as a freshman in 2021 to a likely first-round draft selection.
“I can’t thank them enough for the hours and the work they’ve poured into me,” da Silva said. “It started in the weight room with Steve (Englehart), getting my body right and adjusting to the American style of play. And then coach Boyle, coach (Bill) Grier, coach (Mike) Rohn, coach (Rick) Ray with a lot of logistical stuff, with a lot of basketball IQ that they poured into me. Dedicating their time to breaking down film with me, showing stuff to me and having the patience to explain everything, that’s been really big in my development.”