"Outstanding Athlete" Nelson Brings Blue-Collar, Winning Mentality To Orlando Magic
June 25, 2026 | Men's Basketball
Shortly after University of South Florida forward Izaiyah Nelson was acquired by the Orlando Magic in Wednesday night's NBA Draft, he was on the phone with the team brass. Nelson quickly validated the Magic's faith in him by announcing his post-draft plans.
Nelson said he would drive east on Interstate 4 from Tampa on early Thursday morning to the AdventHealth Training Center in downtown Orlando and beat everyone into the building for morning Magic workouts.
"Mostly, he's about the grind,'' Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman told Orlando Magic.com. "He's really all about it.''
The Magic will soon learn first-hand about the qualities that allowed Nelson to become USF's catalyst last season, when he led the Bulls (25-9) to American Conference regular-season and tournament titles, along with the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012. Nelson is also USF's first NBA draft pick since 2010 (Dominique Jones, first round, Memphis Grizzlies traded to the Dallas Mavericks).
Zai's moment pic.twitter.com/4NaC4Rhd8a
— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) June 25, 2026
Nelson, a 6-foot-10, 218-pound transfer from Arkansas State, averaged 15.9 points and a conference-leading 9.6 rebounds, plus 18 double-doubles. He paced the NCAA in dunks with 89 and stood sixth nationally with 135 offensive rebounds.
Nelson's career was average at best in the early going at Arkansas State. But when Bryan Hodgson became the head coach in 2023-24, everything changed. Hodgson pulled Nelson aside and spoke admiringly about the player's skill set and work ethic. Keep working hard, Hodgson said, and you'll have a shot at the NBA.
"He (Hodgson) said if I trusted him and trusted his system, he said I could make it in the league and have generational wealth,'' Nelson said. "Nobody ever actually told me I could go to the NBA. I thought that was amazing. So, I took that and ran with it. And I have never looked back.''
When Hodgson became USF's head coach in 2025, Nelson followed him to Tampa for his final college season. Nelson had a campaign to remember, becoming the American Conference's Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year – the first player to gain all three honors in the same season. At USF, he was only the third player in the program's 55-season history to have a 500-point, 300-rebound season.
Fittingly, Hodgson was with Nelson on Wednesday night when the good news came down. Nelson was taken in the second round as the 51st pick overall. Technically, he was part of a three-way trade. The Washington Wizards initially picked Nelson at No. 51, then traded his draft rights (and another pick) to the Magic for the draft rights to Tennessee's Felix Okpara, who was taken No. 46 overall.
Welcome to Orlando, Izaiyah Nelson! ??
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) June 25, 2026
? https://t.co/jGj2sA90By@AdventHealthCFL pic.twitter.com/zm6UXrDbF1
The Magic, who didn't have a first-round selection after trading it to the Memphis Grizzlies for the acquisition of Desmond Bane, were 45-37 last season. They reached the playoffs and fell in seven games to the Detroit Pistons in an Eastern Conference first-round series after building a three-games-to-one lead.
The Magic have since hired Sean Sweeney, a first-time head coach who was associate head coach of the San Antonio Spurs. At Sweeney's introductory news conference, he laid out his philosophy, which emphasizes playing with intensity and discipline on both ends of the floor.
It sounds a lot like Izaiyah Nelson's most prominent qualities.
New threads ?? pic.twitter.com/WNiPgGTdrF
— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) June 25, 2026
"The team takes on the personality of its coach,'' Weltman told Orlando Magic.com. "I think Izaiyah already has that. One of the things we thought would be a good fit was Izaiyah's blue-collar, hard-hat mentality playing for Sean Sweeney. I think they'll fit really well together.''
The Magic were attracted by Nelson's 72.5-inch wingspan and his ability to be a disruptive defender. Weltman said Nelson was "outstanding physically'' and an "outstanding athlete'' who tested in the 90th percentile in all the metrics at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
"If you were a scout, you track guys … who make invisible plays,'' Weltman said. "He gets you so many extra possessions. Great offensive rebounder, runner, hit-first guy. All the things he does are about winning.
"I don't know how he's going to fill out a box score, but I know he's going to make a team better. That's really all that matters, and he knows that. It's pretty rare for a rookie to come out with that kind of knowledge.''
Nelson is the ninth USF Bull to be selected in the NBA Draft and the third to be taken in the first two rounds.
Ironically, the former USF player with the greatest NBA tenure wasn't a draft selection. Point guard Chucky Atkins (1992-96), who began his professional career in the CBA, spent one season in Croatia. As an Orlando native, Atkins spent his offseason working out at the Magic complex and he soon got that team's attention.
Atkins signed as a free-agent with the Magic and jump-started an 11-season NBA career, in which he earned $34-million and played for nine different teams.
That USF/Orlando Magic connection has been revived with Izaiyah Nelson.
–#GoBulls–
Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
