Braylon Mullins: He Has What NBA Teams Crave | Prospect Spotlight
Reed Sheppard. Kon Knueppel. Braylon Mullins? Read up on why Braylon Mullins projects to be good for any NBA team in the 2026 NBA Draft!
I’m not trying to land a sponsorship here for No Ceilings, but allow me to use an analogy here. In the hit movie Idiocracy, a make-believe drink called “Brawndo” is one of the most popular products in the future. One of the most quoted lines in this movie is “Brawndo: It’s got what plants crave”—implying that the electrolytes that make up this do-it-all beverage can cure whatever problems its target audience needs.
One such problem was that people in the movie could not grow crops because the soil was being “watered” by Brawndo. The main character, played by Luke Wilson, tried to explain that actual water would allow plants to grow. This went against the tagline “Water is for toilets! Brawndo has what plants crave.” The people in this futuristic (but far less intelligent) society simply couldn’t comprehend that Brawndo was the problem and not the solution.
Sometimes what we’re being told is true. Other times, we’re being sold a bill of goods. I’m not here to “sell” you anything (or am I?). I’m just simply here to tell you that today’s featured prospect, Braylon Mullins, is what NBA teams crave.
The Offense
For the Indy Elite team Braylon Mullins played for in 17U, he ranked in the 93rd percentile in overall offense. Breaking that down a bit, Braylon averaged just under 1.1 points per possession. What makes Mullins a real-deal talent is that he works in the halfcourt—where he ranked in the 85th percentile—as well as in transition. He ranked in the 95th percentile there.
Shooting
There are several ways you can dissect shooting. What I want to do in the early part of the draft cycle is focus on the broad strokes in how he looks as a floor spacer.
This clip highlights just how smooth Braylon is shooting off the catch. There isn’t anything crazy here in terms of scheme, but check out how our guy looks just jogging into the teeth of the paint and then making a hard baseline cut to the same side corner. A well-placed screen to free Mullins up on that cut allows him to catch the ball and just net it in off the catch.
Synergy shows that Mullins hit 40.4% of his threes off the catch on over 140 attempts. 71% of all Mullins shots came off the catch, and he ranked in the 75th percentile on this type of shot. What strikes me beyond just the aesthetics of the shot, or the efficiency numbers, doesn’t even have to do with his shot at all. It’s how he is the definition of perpetual motion.
I hand-tracked the 175 threes that Mullins attempted with Indy Elite. Of those attempts, only 30 of them (~17%) were where he was “parked in a spot” and waiting for the ball to swing his way. Otherwise, about 83% of the time, Braylon was working off screens or the bounce to get to his shot. In all of his threes, he was just under 42%—proving to have a bankable shot. Not all of his deep balls were created equal, either. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for Braylon to bring the ball up past halfcourt and pull up from deep.
Playmaking
For a player who will be known for his shooting, Braylon may have some wondering as to what level of passer he is. What sort of feel does he possess? I have no empirical evidence to support this (yet), but I have a hard time believing that players who show the sort of intelligence that Mullins does on his cutting and shot prep will struggle as passers. Call is correlation over causation, but Braylon complements his lethal shooting with some slick passing chops.
I have a sneaky suspicion that UConn wouldn’t have targeted a player like Mullins if there were concerns about his passing. I truly feel like Mullins already does a great job of toggling between his scoring and his playmaking. In this clip above, you can see that Braylon can survey the floor in a matter of moments and fire in some passes with real pop. He demonstrated that here, finding Malachi Moreno from the opposite side wing for an easy dunk. But he isn’t restricted to being a stationary passer. At all.
This is a bit of a scramble play, but pay attention to what Braylon does after the offensive rebound is secured. He does a great job of facing up to the basket squarely once he recovers the ball in the left corner. That simple act forces the defense to respect the possibility of Mullins shooting. Once he realizes he has position on his defender, Mullins drives baseline. Three defenders engage to contest what appears to be a shot from Braylon as he leaves his feet. Mullins contorts his way through the trees and delivers a beautiful drop-off pass to Moreno again, who has no choice but to convert the two-handed slam.
Braylon recorded 51 assists with Indy Elite in 20 credited games on Synergy. Compare that to 44 turnovers, and you have an ATO of 1.16. That’s not setting the world on fire, but it’s also fair to recognize that there are positive indicators in terms of Mullins being a connective player at a minimum. But then you turn on the film and see moments like the one above.
Indy Elite is in another scramble play in the clip above, and we immediately see Braylon making a catch into a pass play to the top of the key. Braylon backs out to the perimeter, which forces the defense to spread out in respect of his range. Not only does his gravity open lanes for others, but on this play, we see how this opens a cutting lane for him. Braylon gets the ball quickly off the cut, which forces the defense to collapse. Braylon could have taken a shot here, but because he is a heads-up driver, he can see Moreno in his periphery and zips in a hook pass to his cutting teammate. Again, Braylon’s gravity creates Malachi another bucket.
The Defense
I told you I’m not here to sell you a bill of goods (or did I?), and I’m not going to start now (or am I?). Braylon is not a world-renowned perimeter defender. Even the comparisons to Reed Sheppard—and even Kon Knueppel—are off a bit when considering this side of the court. It should be worth noting that Kon showed significant in-season improvement at Duke on defense, and Braylon will be getting some high-quality coaching himself.
Let’s start with this clip against Alijah Arenas—a player who would have been a name to monitor this cycle had it not been for a scary offseason accident. Arenas waits for a screen to be set to Braylon’s right, which gains some separation. Alijah puts on some pressure with a quick step and some bend on his drive. Mullins does fight to recover here, and is able to apply a semblance of a shot contest, but he needs to work on the screen a bit earlier so he can maintain positioning on his man.
Still, it’s nice to see a player who is a shooter put up some fight on that end.
If you think I sound a little “rah-rah” on the prior clip, let’s look at this clip against Alijah Arenas. Cleary Arenas wants this matchup, as he looks for the screen that forces the switch. Instead of making contact with the screen, Arenas’ teammate ghosts contact, which gives our guy the ability to guard Alijah straight up. Alijah goes right, crosses, and then attacks left. Braylon stays in front and forces, one…two…three…four pivots before he attempts a shot over Mullins, just for him to send Alijah’s shot in reverse.
To put some metrics next to some film, Braylon did a good job of forcing defensive events with Indy Elite. He posted 42 stocks (steals and blocks) to 43 fouls committed. This isn’t a perfect ratio to make any grand conclusions from, but it does match the film in that Mullins gives effort defensively—he’s not a cone by any means. I recommend monitoring his progress in an “A-to-B” fashion, to see how well he takes to Coach Hurley’s coaching.
In an article that came out for fastbreakjournal.com, Coach Hurley is quoted speaking about Braylon’s toughness and defense:
“I think there’s some toughness there. I think that there’s a seriousness. I think he’s like, I think he’s gonna guard, I think he’s gonna be able to guard people. Yeah he definitely can [be a starter]. Yeah, he could definitely put himself in that position. You know, guy’s gotta earn it, but he can certainly earn it.”
At 6’6”, Braylon has some tools to go along with the competitive nature to be a positive team defender as he fills out and grows in his basketball IQ.
What The Association is Telling Us
One thing that factors into my reasoning for being high on Mullins as an NBA player is what the league has shown is important. Despite my feelings about older prospects, the league is going to simply select younger prospects toward the top of the draft. Last season, nine of the first 10 players selected were one-year players. Even the one player that wasn’t—Collin Murray-Boyles—is a 20-year-old sophomore who drew significant interest in his Freshman season. In the 2024 NBA Draft, eight of the first 10 picks were one-year players. Donovan Clingan was a sophomore when he was selected and had interest as a freshman, and Zach Edey is a physical oddity at 7’4” and 300 pounds.
It’s worth noting that over the past six NBA Drafts, an average of 8.17 one-year players have been taken in the Top 10. Braylon fits into this trend.
I know that this may sound premature, given where we are in the draft cycle, but the role that Mullins can play for a team is almost beyond where a team is in their lifecycle. A shooter like Mullins can work for a rebuilding team, as floor spacing makes things easier for bigs trying to get used to working in the paint. It also gives wider driving lanes for budding, ball-handling stars. The same thing goes for contending teams. Cost-controlled floor spacers allow for multiple max-contract stars to play together, as well as pressure the rim due to the way defenders have to be honest with the other players on the floor.
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ITS GOT WHAT PLANTS CRAVE