Trevon Brazile had a decision to make when John Calipari showed up in Fayetteville.
He could’ve cashed in somewhere else. He chose to stay.
That loyalty paid off Wednesday night.
The Denver Nuggets selected Brazile with the 35th pick in the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft, capping a college journey that took him from Columbia, Missouri to the Ozarks and, finally, to the professional ranks.
Brazile spent four years at Arkansas and five in college overall, with his freshman season coming at Missouri.
He played for two different head coaches in Fayetteville and kept finding reasons to stick around even when easier paths were available.
The loyalty angle isn’t just a storyline. Brazile addressed it directly after working out for the Sacramento Kings earlier Wednesday.
Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile following his pre-draft workout in Sacramento: pic.twitter.com/GNkdsKlrCP
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) May 27, 2026
“For me, my loyalty was strong at Arkansas,” Brazile said. “Like, I couldn’t imagine myself playing in another college jersey. The fans there are great. The coaching staff, when Cal and them came in, I was just like, ‘I can’t leave this place.’ I love that place.”
He said the financial pull to leave was real.
“I got offered double the amount of money I was getting paid at Arkansas,” he said. “I could have went and got paid somewhere else, but I knew nobody else was going to be able to develop me and be able to be hands-on with me like that staff.”
That confidence in the Arkansas coaching staff wasn’t just talk. His numbers backed it up.
Brazile’s final season in Fayetteville
In his last year as a Razorback, Brazile averaged 13 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, adding 1.6 blocks and 1.5 steals per game as well.
He shot 52.5% from the floor and 34.1% from 3-point range, giving him a well-rounded profile heading into pre-draft workouts.
Brazile was named to the SEC All-Tournament Team that season, averaging 14.7 points and 10.0 rebounds with two double-doubles in that stretch.
He also earned recognition as the 2026 SEC Defensive Player of the Year by HoopsHD and picked up a SEC Player of the Week nod in December for his performance against Texas Tech.
The production wasn’t limited to one category.
Brazile is the only Razorback to record 40 3-pointers, 40 blocked shots and 40 steals in the same season, a combination that speaks to how much he developed as a two-way player over his time in the program.
He also broke the 1,000-point barrier for his Razorback career in a game against Hawai’i, finishing with 1,029 points at Arkansas.
A road that wasn’t always smooth
The path to Wednesday night’s call wasn’t a straight line. Brazile tore his ACL just nine games into the 2022-23 season, his first as a Razorback.
That injury forced him to the sideline and cost him a full season of development.
The following year was a difficult one as the Hogs finished 16-17 overall and ended with Eric Musselman departing Fayetteville for Southern California. Brazile was at a crossroads.
He stayed. When Calipari arrived, Brazile made the call to return for one more season rather than chase a bigger NIL payday or an earlier draft run. The decision turned out to be the right one.
Brazile credited the staff repeatedly during his pre-draft process.
“I got to give the credit to the staff at Arkansas,” Brazile said after his Kings workout. “I’m not saying it’s easy, but things come a little bit quicker for me just because of the way they do their thing over there. It’s a lot of attention to detail, you just got to be consistent.”
He also touched on the grind of pre-draft workouts and how his time in Fayetteville prepared him for that environment.
“We’re traveling from city to city to city, you got to bring it every day. They don’t care how much you’ve been flying, none of that. So just bringing it every play, every workout,” Brazile said.
Arkansas puts three in the 2026 draft
Brazile’s selection adds another name to what became a strong draft night for the program. He joins Darius Acuff Jr., who went seventh overall to the Sacramento Kings, and Meleek Thomas, who was taken 34th by the Cleveland Cavaliers, as Razorbacks selected in the 2026 NBA Draft.
With Brazile’s selection, Arkansas has now had 50 players drafted to the NBA, and he becomes John Calipari’s 65th career draft pick as a head coach.
Three picks in a single draft is significant for any program.
For Hogs fans watching the night unfold, it was further evidence that Fayetteville has become a place where NBA-caliber talent develops and gets recognized at the next level.
Brazile’s career at Arkansas didn’t unfold the way anyone planned when he transferred from Missouri ahead of the 2022-23 season.
A torn ACL, a coaching change, an offseason full of bigger offers and easier exits — he worked through all of it.
Now he’s headed to Denver.
