KU guard Tre White’s next step in basketball journey: Preparing for NBA workouts
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tre White said it’s official that he has entered his name in the 2026 NBA Draft.
- He plans to train in Orlando and attend the Portsmouth Invitational and NBA Combine.
- White emphasizes versatility and improved shooting as his primary NBA selling points.
After completing a whirlwind college basketball adventure that included playing for four high-major schools the past four years, Tre White has shifted his focus to his pursuit of what he hopes will be a long, productive NBA career.
“Yes, it’s official. Yes sir,” White, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound, 23-year-old senior guard from Dallas, said Friday on the Swish Cultures Live podcast. White was asked by former college and pro player Jordan Richard if he’d officially entered his name in the 2026 NBA Draft.
White — he averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for the Jayhawks (24-11) in 2025-26 — is technically out of college eligibility after playing for USC, Louisville, Illinois and KU the past four years. However, there’s been talk of the NCAA letting college players complete five seasons instead of four in the near future.
White is not interested in any of that.
“I feel like I’ve learned everything at each stop. Everything happened for a reason, just to bring everything full circle,” White said. “My senior year, being able to be coached by Bill Self at the highest level on the highest stage, I feel I couldn’t end the story a better way.”
The only thing that could have been better, he said, would have been his team making a long run in the NCAAs rather than suffering a second-round defeat to St. John’s.
“It’s a surreal way to end it because it’s not how I wanted to go out. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” White said of his year at KU.
He explained what he’s been doing since KU’s season ended on March 22 in San Diego.
“I took three, four days off (visiting family in Texas) and then just back to it,” White said of workouts in Lawrence.
He’s about to shift his training site to Orlando, where he and other NBA prospects will gather in preparation for the Portsmouth Invitational (four-day camp for 64 pro hopefuls starting Wednesday in Virginia). After that, it’s the G League Combine (May 8-10, Chicago) and/or NBA Combine (May 10-17, Chicago) followed by individual workouts with NBA teams in preparation for the June NBA Draft.
“As a senior, I’m pursuing my next step. So I feel there’s really no let up,” White said on the podcast, which included former NBA player Norris Cole.
“I’ve got this camp coming up in (Portsmouth) in a couple days, and the combine after that. So I just feel like I’ve got to stay sharp. If you take too much time off you kind of lose that touch and have to build things back up. I didn’t have a crazy break but got to unwind a little bit. So I’ve been in the gym again, trying to be more detailed now. During the season I was more oriented on how to fit in and be effective in the system. Now I will tailor my workouts. It’s getting better at everything I can,” White stated.
White — he hit 45% of his shots including 40.3% from 3 this past season — said he believed his versatility and ability to guard five spots could be valuable to an NBA or overseas team.
“For me, I feel I’m a guy coming in ... you really don’t have to baby me or coddle me. I feel like I’ve had experience to where I could be an impact player immediately.” White said. “I feel like my skill, my superpower, (is) the versatility.
“I feel like I can come in and play off the ball and be a ‘3 and D’ or I can take advantage of a mismatch and play fast with pace. I feel like I can guard the best of them and I feel I improved my shooting. So I feel like you can really plug me in. I have a more mature body than most players coming to the draft, so I feel like me being an older player, you don’t really have to worry about me getting in trouble outside of the game. Staying focused ... I feel whatever team I get to I could be an impact player immediately.”
White’s agent has informed him of his upcoming daily routine starting after Portsmouth up until the NBA Draft and summer league.
“I’m blessed to have my circle to where they kind of handle everything for me, so I’m just walking each step,” White said. “But for me, I’ll be in Florida, training in Orlando, probably. I’ll wake up, have somebody come stretch me at the gym or at the crib — at the house we are staying at — until about 8 or 9 (a.m.), go to the gym there, probably work out for an hour and a half straight skills, and then go straight to either weights or yoga. After that, get something to eat, probably chill, take a nap, and then probably come back to shoot again later at like 5 or 6 (p.m.) depending how I’m feeling.
“And then I’ll probably do 2-, 3-a-days, depending on how my body is feeling. I want to do 3-a-days most of the week, but I know once I start to get later in the week, I’ll probably have to cut it to two a day, just keep it simple. I want to do as much work as I can without overdoing it. And then we’ll have chefs for two meals a day. For that last meal, I’ll just try to (get) something light.”
As a possible second-round draft pick, White realizes there’s room for improvement the next few weeks in front of NBA scouts.
“My explosiveness, my quickness and just making quicker decisions,” he said. “I feel like everybody I listen to and talk to always says speed adjustment and strength adjustment is the biggest thing (in heading to the NBA). So just trying to be able to improve my lateral quickness and jumping ability — to be able to switch and guard at that faster pace, for sure — just quicker decisions. I know I’ll probably get at most five shots, seven shots a game on a good night my rookie year, if that, so just trying to be efficient and knowing what I want to get to earlier, just repping that out.”
White said he plans on returning to Lawrence for KU commencement on May 17. There’s lots of traveling in his immediate future prior to the draft.
“I’m older, a senior, so I’m sure I’ll have to be with a lot of teams,” he said. “Just whoever will give me the opportunity. I’ll work out with as many teams as I need to.”
When working with NBA coaches during individual drills, he said he would like to “hold my hat on versatility. If the game needs me to go get 25 and 10, I can go do that. If the game calls for me to go get 15 and 15, I’ll try to do that. So I just feel like I’ve been blessed to be able to pass with both hands and have big enough hands to slow the game down.”
Norris Cole offered a bit of advice to White heading into workouts with pro teams.
“The biggest thing, I would say is you need to know the name of the coach, know the name of the GM, know the name of some of the assistant coaches. You can do that. It’s something you can review on the flight,” Cole told White. “You need to have a familiarity when you get there that some of the other players might not have. ... Show that you prepared, that you took this job interview seriously that other guys won’t be doing.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2026 at 12:01 PM.
