OTF Premium OTF update: Dailyn Swain (Thursday 6:20pm CT)

[Gerry Hamilton]

OTF update: Dailyn Swain

A Thursday night update.

OTF currently believes Dailyn Swain is leaning to entering the 2026 NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, which would keep the door open for a potential return to Texas for a final season. 

The key is maintaining his eligibility. Should Swain finalize that decision, he can participate in the NBA Draft Combine work out for individual teams and gather important feedback on his draft prospects before deciding whether to stay in the NBA Draft or return to college for a final season.

Key dates to know:
NBA Draft Combine in Chicago is May 10-17

Last day for college players to withdraw and return to school is May 27 or 28 at 11:59pm ET

OTF will continue to monitor Swain's decision.

[Gerry Hamilton]

BTW, nothing has changed with Matas. 

OTF feels good. 
 

[Gerry Hamilton]

Think Texas fans will start seeing some players announcing intentions in the next few days. 

[Bunk Moreland]

Did you accost him at the airport? Apparently that’s how you’re supposed to ask Texas MBB players if they’re returning.

[Gerry Hamilton]

1 minute ago, Bunk Moreland said:

Did you accost him at the airport? Apparently that’s how you’re supposed to ask Texas MBB players if they’re returning.

lol 

Heard a funny story about that one.

[JMarquette]

This is kind of the worst case scenario, right? Keeping eligibility open kind of hurts us because we would essentially wait on him to commit one way or another, no?

[Gerry Hamilton]

2 minutes ago, JMarquette said:

This is kind of the worst case scenario, right? Keeping eligibility open kind of hurts us because we would essentially wait on him to commit one way or another, no?

My belief if Texas will have to build 2026-27 roster as if he won’t be back…. Even if he ends up coming back 

[spaintex]

8 hours ago, Gerry Hamilton said:

My belief if Texas will have to build 2026-27 roster as if he won’t be back…. Even if he ends up coming back 

But in that scenario how do they manage/allocate the NIL budget?

[harveycmd]

1 hour ago, spaintex said:

But in that scenario how do they manage/allocate the NIL budget?

They must assume he's not coming back and allocate the money to another high level player. If he does come back, they can try to raise the money, but you can't hold the money for a low chance opportunity. 

I'd say it's 80/20 he'll stay in the draft. He's being consistently mocked in the low to mid 20s pick range now, and he'll likely outperform many of the guys being mocked ahead of him (Haugh, Mullins, etc.) during the workout process.