Table is Set For UCLA Men's Basketball to Undergo Major Rebuild

Only three scholarship players are in line to return to Westwood, meaning significant changes are in store for the Bruins' rotation.

Throughout coach Mick Cronin's tenure in Westwood, the Bruins have had the benefit of unprecedented roster consistency year-over-year.

That won't be the case heading into 2023.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. is not walking through that door. Tyger Campbell is not walking through that door, and David Singleton is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door – well, they may not be gray and old, but they'll probably be out of eligibility.

UCLA men's basketball is losing more than just their senior trio, though, with guard Amari Bailey, center Adem Bona and guard Jaylen Clark all declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft as well. Meanwhile, wing Abramo Canka and big man Mac Etienne reportedly entered the NCAA transfer portal just before it closed Thursday night.

Even if the injured Bona and Clark back out of the draft pool ahead of the June 1 deadline, the Bruins' rotation will still be filled almost entirely with fresh blood.

As it stands, there are eight scholarship players on UCLA's 2023-2024 roster. Sophomore point guard Dylan Andrews, redshirt sophomore guard Will McClendon and sixth-year center Kenneth Nwuba are the only ones returning from last year's Pac-12 regular season championship team at the moment, and they were all bench pieces on that squad.

The Bruins signed a trio of four-star prospects to its 2023 recruiting class last November – guard Sebastian Mack, forward/center Devin Williams and forward Brandon Williams. In April, UCLA picked up commitments from Utah transfer wing Lazar Stefanovic and French shooting guard Ilane Fibleuil.

UCLA has lost 87.2% of its points, 90.0% of its rebounds and 92.3% of its assists from last season, as Andrews, McClendon and Nwuba all averaged fewer than 12.5 minutes a night. Stefanovic is currently the only other player with experience at the college level.

Of course, those numbers are under the assumption that Bona and Clark remain in the draft. Bona and Clark both received invitations to the NBA Draft Combine, but the former's shoulder surgery and the latter's Achilles tendon surgery will prevent them from actually working out.

Clark has been dropping hints on social media that he could return to school next season, although he has said a return by late December or early January would likely be a best-case scenario. Bona, on the other hand, is reportedly on track to return by October.

Getting the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year back in the fold would help bolster Cronin's rotation, even if Clark wouldn't be able to join until the middle of conference play.

Clark and Bona's returns would bump UCLA up from eight scholarship players to 10, and they might already have plans for how to fill those last few slots.

Sources have also told All Bruins that the staff is interested adding several international prospects, including potential five-star center Aday Mara. If UCLA can lock them all down, then they could have a full roster by the end of June.

A lot of that is still technically up in the air, though, and fans have watched multiple players bow out on UCLA just short of the finish line over the past year.

Four-star small forwards Dusty Stromer, Andrej Stojavokic and Marcus Adams Jr. all committed elsewhere at the last second, as did USC transfer guard Reese Dixon-Waters. And then there's the case of Turkish big man Ege Demir, an international commit who was unable to enroll midseason.

Just last year, the Bruins held a roster spot open for veteran Jules Bernard heading into June. However, the guard decided to stay in the NBA Draft pool just as the deadline hit, and the staff could find themselves in a similar position with Bona or Clark this time around.

UCLA could play its cards perfectly and roll into next season with a lot of highly-ranked new faces and a few recovering and developing familiar ones. Conversely, all the space they just cleared up could be for naught, and the staff could be left scrambling and improvising to fill out the roster with only half of the rebuilding work done to this point.

Whichever way things go, the table is officially set.

Now it's time to see what Cronin and his staff can serve up over the next few weeks, and if they can finally seal the deal.

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