Rueben Chinyelu is withdrawing his name from the 2026 NBA Draft and will return to Florida for the upcoming season, the team announced Thursday.
The 22-year-old, who won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award last season, averaged 10.9 points and 11.2 rebounds in 35 games. He also set a Florida single-season record with 19 double-doubles.
"We felt like he was capable of making a jump like this, this year," Florida head coach Todd Golden said in early March, according to Jeffrey Serber of The Independent Florida Alligator. "He's one of the most valuable guys out there with the way he makes teams pay on both sides of the floor."
Florida will return 11 players from last year's team, which won the SEC regular-season title and grabbed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The returning players include Chinyelu, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh.
Chinyelu, a 6-foot-10 center, has played in 75 games since transferring from Washington State two years ago, averaging 8.3 points and 8.7 boards with the Gators over that span.
