TORONTO – Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's basketball players
Aaron Rhooms and
Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow were selected in the first and second rounds of the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) Draft on Thursday evening. Rhooms was chosen eighth overall by the Edmonton Stingers, while Gilgeous-Glasgow went 15th overall to the Calgary Surge.
Rhooms, the reigning OUA Player of the Year and U SPORTS First Team All-Canadian, was drafted for the third time—having previously been selected by Scarborough in 2022 and Edmonton in 2024. Meanwhile, this marks Gilgeous-Glasgow's first selection to the CEBL.
TMU led all U SPORTS programs with three players selected in this year's draft. Joining Rhooms and Gilgeous-Glasgow was David Walker, who played for the Bold during the 2023–24 season. Walker was selected seventh overall in the first round by the Scarborough Shooting Stars, after spending the past two summers competing in the CEBL with both the Shooting Stars and the Brampton Honey Badgers.
For the first time in the league's history, the selections were unveiled live on CEBL+ (plus.cebl.ca) via the '2025 CEBL Draft Reveal Show' that began at 7 p.m. ET. The full replay of the show can be watched on CEBL+ Video-on-Demand as of April 12.
Each CEBL club made three selections total (one in each round) of either returning or graduating Canadian post-secondary players. The priority of selection in round one was the reverse order of how each team finished the 2024 regular season, and the following rounds reverted to a 'snake format' in reverse order of the previous round.
The league will begin its seventh season when Rhooms and Edmonton host Gilgeous-Glasgow and Calgary on May 11. A total of 120 regular season games fill the 2025 campaign, leading to playoffs that begin August 14. Championship Weekend, which features the league's top four teams during the regular season vying for the league title, will be held at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, August 22-24.
2025 CEBL Draft Results (By Round):
| OVR |
TEAM |
PLAYER |
HOMETOWN |
SCHOOL |
| ROUND 1 |
| 1 |
Montréal Alliance |
Sultan Haider Bhatti |
Laval, QC |
Brandon University (U SPORTS) |
| 2 |
Brampton Honey Badgers |
Yohann Sam |
Brampton, ON |
University of Windsor (U SPORTS) |
| 3 |
Saskatchewan Rattlers |
Declan Peterson |
Bentley, AB |
University of Calgary (U SPORTS) |
| 4 |
Ottawa BlackJacks |
Justin Ndjock-Tadjoré |
Gatineau, QC |
University of Ottawa (U SPORTS) |
| 5 |
Winnipeg Sea Bears |
Geoffrey James |
Edmonton, AB |
University of Victoria (U SPORTS) |
| 6 |
Calgary Surge |
DJ Jackson |
Mississauga, ON |
St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS) |
| 7 |
Scarborough Shooting Stars |
David Walker |
Toronto, ON |
Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS) |
| 8 |
Edmonton Stingers |
Aaron Rhooms |
Toronto, ON |
Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS) |
| 9 |
Niagara River Lions |
Gatluak James |
Windsor, ON |
St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS) |
| 10 |
Vancouver Bandits |
Nikola Guzina |
Vancouver, BC |
University of British Columbia (U SPORTS) |
| ROUND 2 |
| 11 |
Vancouver Bandits |
Mikyle Malabuyoc |
Vancouver, BC |
Western University (U SPORTS) |
| 12 |
Niagara River Lions |
Charles Robert |
Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC |
Bishop's University (U SPORTS) |
| 13 |
Edmonton Stingers |
Liai Tong |
St. John's, NL |
Cape Breton University (U SPORTS) |
| 14 |
Scarborough Shooting Stars |
Koat Thomas |
Waterloo, ON |
St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS) |
| 15 |
Calgary Surge |
Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow |
Brampton, ON |
Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS) |
| 16 |
Winnipeg Sea Bears |
Mason Kraus |
Winnipeg, MB |
University of Manitoba (U SPORTS) |
| 17 |
Ottawa BlackJacks |
Alvin Icyogere |
Ottawa, ON |
Nipissing University (U SPORTS) |
| 18 |
Saskatchewan Rattlers |
Isaac Simon |
Regina, SK |
University of Alberta (U SPORTS) |
| 19 |
Brampton Honey Badgers |
Conner Landell |
St. Catharines, ON |
University of New Brunswick (U SPORTS) |
| 20 |
Montréal Alliance |
Liam Rietschin |
Toronto, ON |
York University (U SPORTS) |
| ROUND 3 |
| 21 |
Montréal Alliance |
Jaheem Joseph |
Ottawa, ON |
Concordia University (U SPORTS) |
| 22 |
Brampton Honey Badgers |
Mike Demagus |
Scarborough, ON |
McMaster University (U SPORTS) |
| 23 |
Saskatchewan Rattlers |
Easton Thimm |
Saskatoon, SK |
University of Saskatchewan (U SPORTS) |
| 24 |
Ottawa BlackJacks |
Malik Grant |
Brampton, ON |
Humber Polytechnic (CCAA) |
| 25 |
Winnipeg Sea Bears |
Brendan Amoyaw |
Winnipeg, MB |
McMaster University (U SPORTS) |
| 26 |
Calgary Surge |
William Tong |
Calgary, AB |
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (CCAA) |
| 27 |
Scarborough Shooting Stars |
Samuel Wong |
Toronto, ON |
Centennial College (CCAA) |
| 28 |
Edmonton Stingers |
Jalen Shirley |
Brampton, ON |
University of British Columbia Okanagan (U SPORTS) |
| 29 |
Niagara River Lions |
Thierry Tshibola |
Québec City, QC |
Brock University (U SPORTS) |
| 30 |
Vancouver Bandits |
David Mutabazi |
Delta, BC |
Trinity Western University (U SPORTS) |
