The Miami Heat are among a laundry list of teams that have been connected to former University of Colorado Boulder star Tristan Da Silva ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft, which is slated for June 26.
“Da Silva was a surprising omission from the NBA’s early green-room list, but he may still earn an invitation, with firm interest in inside the top 20,” Jeremy Woo wrote. “He has interest as high as Memphis at No. 9, but will likely fall into the next range, where an array of playoff-caliber teams, including the [Sacramento] Kings, Heat, Sixers (Philadelphia 76ers), and [Los Angeles] Lakers, are all interested in his services.”
Da Silva is one of the more experienced players in his draft class, as he is already 23 years old and played four seasons of college basketball at Colorado.
But the German wasn’t a star at the collegiate level from the jump. In his first season with the Buffaloes back in the 2020-21 campaign, he averaged just 2.7 points and 1.0 rebound per contest in 24 games played and zero starts with the program.
The following season, his sophomore season, Da Silva emerged as a role player who did a bit of everything for the Buffaloes (he averaged 9.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.6 steals per game). However, it wasn’t until his junior season that he truly emerged as one of the nation’s most talented two-way players.
As a junior, Da Silva’s scoring average jumped to 15.9 points per game, and he scored the ball at a very efficient rate to boot. He shot 49.6 percent from the floor and 39.4 percent from 3-point range while starting 33 of the 35 games he appeared in with the Buffaloes in the 2022-23 season.
On top of Da Silva’s scoring production, he also averaged 4.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game in his penultimate season playing college basketball.
Finally, his swan song with the Buffaloes was also impressive, but it’s arguable as to how much he improved from a statistical standpoint compared to his junior season or if he improved at all. His scoring average as a senior was nearly identical to the year prior at 16.0 points per game, and his shooting splits were eerily similar as well, considering he shot 49.3 percent from the floor and 39.5 percent from deep.
If there was one area where Da Silva took a leap from a statistical standpoint as a senior, it was his playmaking. After averaging 1.3 assists per game as a junior, that number rose to 2.4 assists per contest during his final season with the Buffaloes.
