As Combine Begins, Gators’ Condon Facing Big Looming NBA Decision

One month ago, Alex Condon dove onto a loose ball with the final few seconds of the national championship game ticking away.

The 6-foot-11 sophomore forward held on tight as the Houston Cougars made their desperate final attempt, but Condon’s effort sealed the fate of both teams. As the final buzzer sounds, Florida outlasted Houston 65-63 in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game to capture the school’s third national title. Condon celebrated the triumph as an integral piece of Florida head coach Todd Golden’s winning formula and a possible first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. 

However, five years prior to claiming the national championship, Condon was just a rising star in Australian rules football who picked up basketball as an extra workout that worked well with his huge frame.

Now, it doesn’t seem like Condon will be putting down the basketball anytime soon. But he does have a big decision looming.

As Gainesville celebrated the Gators’ triumph, Condon made the difficult decision on April 16 to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft, while still retaining his final two years of college eligibility.

Condon has been conducting pre-draft workouts in California and weighing his options before the June 25 draft. He is one of three Gators — joining departing seniors Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin — who were invited to participate in next week’s NBA combine in Chicago, where draft prospects will work out in front of scouts from all 30 NBA teams. Gators center Rueben Chinyelu also is going through the draft process.

“I think I’m almost ready,” Condon said. “If I was to leave, I’d miss college a bunch. It’s a fun experience.”

Condon has until May 28 to decide whether to withdraw his name from the draft. And the decision to stay or go may simply come down to numbers.

Condon’s story starts in western Australia in Perth, as the son of an Australian rules football star Damien Condon and international swimmer Leah Broderick. 

Damian once dominated for East Fremantle, winning three West Australian Football League titles in six seasons at the club. Alex followed in his father’s footsteps, creating a name for himself in Australian rules football his entire life, even representing West Australia at the AFL Under-17 national championships in 2021.

“He always showed a heart for it [Australian rules football], but I never cared if he did something different,” Damian Condon told WRUF. “I was just a bit scared he was gonna be better than me.”

However, a growth spurt at 15 years old sent Alex’s athletic career in a different direction. Growing 6 inches up to 6-foot-11, he was connected with the NBA Global Academy, joining Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Canberra, Australia.

“I’d played footy all my life up to about 16,” Alex said. “I was projected pretty high in footy, but basketball’s international. I thought I could go further in that.”

After two years of developing his basketball skills, Condon was invited to a Las Vegas showcase for the NBA Global Academy, where he would end up meeting two of the most influential coaches in his young career.

Golden and Florida assistant coach Carlin Hartman made an immediate impression on the Australian project, and Condon received a scholarship offer from UF shortly after. With his only other offers coming from Utah, St. Mary’s and Michigan — along with a pitch from Golden that he would be in the rotation right away — Condon committed to the Gators on Feb. 2, 2023.

Two months later, the AFL’s Collingwood Magpies got Condon to sign a Category B rookie contract until 2029, which allowed Condon to pursue football even after three years away from the sport. But basketball remained at the forefront of his mind.

“It’s come through and both parties have signed it, but it was on the premise that things didn’t work out in America in regard to the NBA,” Damien Condon told SEN WA Mornings, an Australian news agency, in April.

Golden followed through on his promise, giving Condon 20.3 minutes per game in his freshman season, as the Aussie recorded 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and earned a SEC All-Freshman team nod.

When asked if he ever looked in the rearview mirror at the career he could have had in the AFL, Condon said he has “no regrets, man. No regrets … Coming here, I knew we had a good team and great guard play. After the first-round loss in March my freshman year, I knew we could build off it.”

That loss, a heartbreaking 102-100 defeat to Colorado in the NCAA Tournament, shaped the record-breaking season that would follow for Condon and the Gators.

Florida brought in eventual starters in the transfer portal in Martin (Florida Atlantic) and center Rueben Chinyelu (Washington State), but a starting power forward position was open for the improved Condon to take over.

“The summer was pretty intense,” Condon said, “A lot of workouts on the track, a lot of team-building, just a lot of conditioning. Guys like Alijah and Rueben came in and elevated the work ethic. Mix that with the talent we already had—it was an unstoppable formula.”

The Gators started the season ranked No. 21 in the Preseason AP Top 25 poll, but shot up the rankings following a 13-0 start. Condon improved to nearly 11 points and eight rebounds with 1.4 blocks per game in his sophomore season, reflecting the work he put in throughout the offseason.

“Outside of practice, we would go on early morning runs and still shoot around on off days,” said Cooper Josefsberg, Condon’s roommate and Florida teammate. “We’d run two miles on the trails or on the tracks and when I went home, he was still in the gym getting more shots up.”

Over the course of the season, that extra work was rewarded time and time again. After a 99-94 win at No. 5 Alabama in March in which Condon posted a career-high 27 points and 13 rebounds, NBA teams began taking a much closer look at the Australian. By the time the SEC Tournament rolled around,  Condon was sneaking into the first round in several mock drafts, making the AFL look less and less like a possibility.

“I always thought I could go back and play football anytime. But basketball keeps pulling me forward.”

What followed in March and April was a historic run for Florida that cemented the decision to pursue basketball at the professional level. Nine straight wins, including the title game against Houston, brought Condon more media attention than ever before.

Even after reaggravating an ankle injury in the Sweet 16 against Maryland, Condon continued to perform and play a massive role for Florida. His 12 points and seven rebounds in the title game played a major role in the Gators’ third national title.

“Battling through adversity was important,” he said. “You’ve got to get used to playing when you’re not 100 percent. Everybody had little injuries — we just fought through and got there.”

Although he has only spent two years in Gainesville, Condon already left a mark on the UF and looks on his way to have a big impact at the next level.

But will that be now or down the road?

“He was a project for the Gators, and he’s ended up being one of their better players,” Damien Condon told Australia’s SEN. “He could go back and develop, or he could chase the NBA right now. It’s a judgment call.”