The 6-foot-8, 216-pound forward excelled as a shooter at the University of Colorado. As one of this class’s oldest draft prospects, the 23-year-old is among the most league-ready players and has a solid track record. Those things could make the German a great fit for the Sixers’ No. 16 pick in the NBA draft on June 26 and 27.
Da Silva believes the team that chooses him will quickly find out that he’s much more than a shooter.
“I think my versatility that I can bring to the table,” he said of his skill set. “I think I can go defend, one through four. I feel like offensively, I can score [at] like three levels. I can play make. I just bring toughness and maturity as an older guy, a great teammate.
“So I think all those different factors I could really bring to the table and help a team win. My ultimate goal is just to provide winning to a team.”
In addition to their first-round selection, the Sixers will select 41st. With upward of 10 standard roster spots available, they need guys who can play right away.
Right now, da Silva, Zach Edey and Jaylon Tyson are plug-and-play prospects that would likely be available for the Sixers. Providence combo guard Devin Carter, another solid fit, is expected to be off the board.
Edey, a 7-4 and 299-pound center out of Purdue, is the two-time college basketball player of the year. The 22-year-old Canadian would be a suitable backup for 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star Joel Embiid. Tyson, 21, is a 6-7 swingman. He averaged 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.2 steals as a junior this past season at California. As good as those statistics are, the all-PAC 12 selection might be a reach at No. 16.
As for da Silva, he averaged 16 points and made 39.5% of his three-pointers as a second-team all-Pac 12 honoree as a senior. He also averaged 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals.
The three-year starter is a suitable option as the Sixers are expected to part ways with Tobias Harris in free agency. And though he needs to work on his rebounding, a league scout believes da Silva could become a solid scorer. The scout also thinks da Silva is a better ball handler and passer than Harris, while their defense is “about the same.”
Like Harris, da Silva isn’t defined by basketball.
da Silva, who graduated from Colorado last month with a finance degree, speaks German, Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. He is also a talented trumpet player. And following his basketball career, da Silva wants a job in environment engineering or another science field.
Athletics are in his genes, though. His father, Valdemar, was a Brazilian boxer who immigrated to Germany in the 1990s. His brother, Oscar, 25, played at Stanford and is a member of the German national team.
