Thomas Haugh's Decision is Reckless. But I Love Him.
- Sheehan Planas-Arteaga
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Returning to the Gators is a risky decision by Thomas Haugh, but he's betting on himself.
It's title or bust for the Florida Gators basketball team next season. After a shocking upset at the hands of Iowa in the second round of the this year's NCAA tournament, many thought this was the end of the Gators' current crop of stars. All or most of the frontcourt of Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh would head to the NBA draft. The age of NIL allows teams to rebuild quickly, but losing your entire core would have surely set Todd Golden's team back a few steps.
To quote Lee Corso: "Not so fast, my friend!"
The Kid is Back
Thomas Haugh, the Gators' leading scorer last season and a projected top-15 pick in the NBA Draft, told ESPN he would be returning for his senior season in Gainesville. This came shortly after Alex Condon, another projected first-rounder, announced he would also be returning for one more ride. Chinyelu is set to "test the waters" of the draft, though he has maintained his collegiate eligibility and has until May 27th to decide on staying or going. It would be nice to have an enforcer and rebounding machine like Chinyelu back; you have to imagine he has a bad taste in his mouth after the absolute stinker he put up against Iowa (0 points in 19 minutes). But Thomas Haugh is the one who really moves the needle here.
I'm not sure if I would've gone the same route as him...but goddamnit am I glad he did!
Money Talks
Although I’m sure the loss to Iowa helped fuel Haugh’s decision to come back for his senior season, economics were involved as well. He is expected to be among the highest-paid players in the country next season, with an NIL deal projected between five and ten million dollars. NBA rookie salaries are set based on their draft position, with only the top four picks earning over eight figures. Haugh would’ve had to have been drafted in the top five in order to earn more in the pros next season, which was highly unlikely.
This is a short-term play, to be sure, as playing in the NBA next season would’ve accelerated the timeline for Haugh getting to the big money contracts all players are searching for. Now he’ll have to wait one more year for that to happen, and that’s assuming he’s still a borderline lottery pick like he was projected to be this season.
This decision was borne from a mixture of a nice payday (in half the length of an NBA season), faith in oneself, and a desire to be among the all-time greats at the University of Florida, next to names like Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Udonis Haslem, Bradley Beal, etc. His reasoning is sound.
Reckless?
Yeah. This is still a potentially reckless decision by Thomas Haugh. The Gator fan in me is ecstatic that number-10 will be leading the orange and blue next season. The unbiased sports fan in me thinks he’s one injury away from this being the worst decision of his life. This could be him stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.
It won’t be, though! The Florida Gators will surely be the top-ranked team in the country based on the preseason rankings, Denzel Aberdeen will win his case to gain a fifth year of eligibility and return to the Gators, and Thomas Haugh will lead them to their second National Championship in three seasons and fourth in program history.
Let the manifesting begin.
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