Through the early parts of the college basketball season, few members of this loaded freshman class are ascending as sharply as Neoklis Avdalas. The 19-year-old Greek wing played in the Greek league before joining the Hokies this season and he’s been an early revelation for Virginia Tech.
Head coach Mike Young’s 6’8 wunderkind is averaging 18.3 points. 7.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game through three contests, making the most of his college basketball tenure after pulling out of the 2025 NBA Draft last cycle. He leads all high-major freshmen in assists per game and ranks 13th in scoring, producing like a future star.
That box-score production, coupled with some ludicrous highlights, earned Avdalas plenty of early 2026 NBA Draft buzz. Tall lead guards who can dribble, pass, shoot and defend often become NBA stars, at least on the surface. According to my hand-tracked “net impact plays,” which aims to remove bias and evaluate true play-to-play impact, Avdalas ranks fifth of 24 prospects I’ve charted so far during the nascent NCAA and international seasons.
Any measure you choose, whether that be counting stats, advanced metrics or simply highlight scouting, Avdalas looks like a future NBA star. Early-season performances can be deceiving, though. Is this actually the beginning of a top-five campaign, or will his stock return to earth throughout the season?
Avdalas is a star defender in the making
More than his conspicuous offensive brilliance, Avdalas’s early-season defense looks easy to bank on. Defensive play isn’t beholden to shotmaking variance as much as offensive impact is and Advalas has been phenomenal on defense, especially as a rim protector. His excellent 5.8% block rate may regress (2.1% last season), but he’s shown the makings of an NBA paint defender.
Unlike many tall, offensively slanted young players, Avdalas understands how to apply his size and rare mobility to win on defense. He’s always making impactful rotations at the basket, contesting with veteran verticality, timing and hand accuracy.
neoklis avdalas blends rare change of direction and verticality as a 6’8 wing, which result in some ridiculous rim protection and on-ball defensive moments.
avdalas placed in the 86th %tile for def. net impact plays per my charting vs providence with a massive offensive load pic.twitter.com/xrNcSFjD59
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) November 9, 2025
While Avdalas’s shot blocking prowess is somewhat of a new development, his usually strong point-of-attack defense has translated. Stronger defenders can and will knock him off his spots, but you’ll rarely catch Avdalas allowing easy advantages and lanes to the rim. It’s uncommon for players as tall as him to bend and change directions as fluidly as he does.
The most frightening application of his tools comes as a screen defender, where he’s always excelled, but some added strength has made him even more effective. Normally, forcing tall players to dip and weave through screens is an effective strategy, but Avdalas makes that more challenging than normal.
Even without top-shelf power or explosive twitch, Avdalas has the makings of an impact professional defender. He might not boast an elite defensive trait (though his contesting at the rim may be for a wing), Advalas’s role versatility projected easily to an ever-evolving NBA landscape.
Is his offensive excellence sustainable?
His offense, which looks even more impressive on the surface, will be a bit tougher to parse. He’s firing on all cylinders at the moment, creating like a full-fledged primary initiator, ranking sixth among high-major freshmen in usage rate (28.4%) and second in assist-rate (38.5%). Despite his huge offensive load, he’s barely turning the ball over, logging four turnovers in three games compared to 22 assists.
Advalas lacks the special vision, manipulation and processing of elite NBA point guards, but he’s one of the best wing passers in the class without a doubt. That stems from his elite handling and pacing, his best and most valuable offensive trait. He’s never bothered by pressure and plays at his own pace regardless of the coverage.
Providence spent much of its game against Virginia Tech pressing him in the backcourt and, for the most part, that plan ended in abject failure. It’s tough to speed up Avdalas, especially against more aggressive coverages; according to Synergy, his offense produces an absurd 1.294 points per possession on the 17 pick-and-rolls where defenders commit to him.
He’s a gyroscope with the ball, navigating garbage with his elite ball control and quick change of speed and direction, gliding into open space for pull-up jumpers and touch shots. When his jumpers are falling at the clip they currently are, Avdalas is nearly impossible to stop.
His ceiling will likely depend on how strong of an off-dribble shooter he becomes. Avdalas is converting 42% of his 11.3 3-point attempts per 100 possessions. That’s significantly higher than his 37.5% clip (25-70) from last season, and his mediocre free-throw percentage (70.3%) doesn’t suggest high-end touch, but his current off-dribble shooting volume from three and mid-range bodes well for his shooting growth.
great example a bit later in this game of avdalas greatest driving strength (change of speed/direction) and his inability to consistently turn those into rim attempts.
also worth noting that st joes is mostly going under on neo, this play was an exception pic.twitter.com/X44MiWrhnK
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) November 13, 2025
How high can he go in the 2026 NBA Draft?
If Advalas reaches his ceiling as a pick-and-roll scorer, he’ll have to overcome his limitations as a downhill scorer. After posting a solid 27.2% half-court rim rate and 0.26 free-throw rate in Greece last season, those numbers are down to 11.9% rim frequency and a putrid .167 free-throw rate.
Those numbers illustrate his currently limited creation without a screen and rim pressure ability. While he’s excellent at toying with defenses in intermediate areas with a pick, he’s not as effective at cracking tougher defensive shells. That’s resulted in mediocre scoring efficiency (53.1% true shooting) despite his searing outside shooting.
Avdalas can chip away at his paint pressure deficits with strength gains, as he’s willing to occasionally drop his shoulder and move defenders out of the way. He’s not currently forceful enough (like most 6’8 teenagers), but his excellent flexibility and willingness to play physically could suggest future strength creation growth.
easy self created rim attempts like this one will be the ceiling swing skill for neoklis avdalas, and moments like this, discarding a smaller guard with great leverage, make you believe he can reach that one day pic.twitter.com/Dp7WG8R2B7
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) November 13, 2025
Based on his pre-NCAA sample, I viewed Avdalas as a late first-round player. His first three college games aren’t enough for me to vault him into the top five or even top 10 of a loaded 2026 NBA Draft class, especially considering how strong the rest of the freshmen are playing. It’s possible he gets there for me eventually, but I’ll need a larger sample of shooting and slashing to know for sure.
But Avdalas’s defense and pick-and-roll creation are not flukes. Even if Avdalas hits a rough shotmaking stretch, tall, pick-and-roll creators who defend as he does are valuable commodities in today’s NBA. Plenty can and will change before the 2026 draft, but I’m confident calling Avdalas at least a top-20 player on my board and a lottery talent for the moment.
