SAN DIEGO – San Diego State junior Miles Byrd has been named to the Preseason Top 20 Watch List for the 2026 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. Byrd is one of 20 players who are in contention for the annual honor named after the Hall of Famer and 11-time NBA All-Star.
Byrd, who was a member of the list last year when it was cut down to 10 players, joins Malik Pope as the second Aztec to be recognized by the Naismith Hall of Fame with inclusion on the Erving Award’s Preseason Watch List.
The list will narrow down to 10 players in late January, with the final five being announced in March. The winner will be revealed at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
After a redshirt freshman campaign, the Stockton, Calif., native, enters his fourth season on The Mesa. In 2024-25, he was, as previously mentioned, included on the Erving Award’s Top 10 list as well as being named a second-team All-National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Pacific Division and second-team All-Mountain West performer. In addition, he garnered a spot on the Mountain West All-Defensive Team and on the inaugural Players Era Festival All-Tournament Team.
Last year, his first season as a starter, the 6-6 wing averaged 12.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per game. He was the only player in the nation who finished the season with 38.1 percent shooting from the floor, 30.1 percent from long range, and 83.2 percent from the line, with 82 assists, 64 steals, and 32 blocks. In the season opener against UC San Diego, his first career start, he became just the second player in NCAA Division I basketball over the last 10 seasons (since 2014-15) to record at least 20 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four blocks in the same game, and is also the first Aztec since at least 1996-97 with that stat line. On January 14 against Colorado State, Byrd became the first player in Mountain West history, and one of three players nationally in the last 16 seasons, to have a game of at least 25 points, including five 3-pointers, seven steals and six rebounds.
Byrd scored in double figures 19 times, including four games at 20 points or more and a career-high 25 against Colorado State. Among his season-high 82 assists, he posted 24 games with multiple dimes and a single-game best nine at Nevada on January 25. Among nine games with multiple blocks, Byrd matched his career-high with four rejections against UC San Diego. In 18 games with multiple steals, he finished with a career-best seven against Colorado State and had at least three steals in 11 games. His seven steals against Colorado State were the most in a game by any player in the Mountain West last year.
He finished the season ranked No. 2 in steals, No. 4 in free throw percentage, No. 8 in blocked shots, No. 9 in 3-point field goals and No. 18 in scoring in the Mountain West. Nationally, in the top 100, he was No. 27 in steals per game and No. 44 in total steals.
Late last week, Byrd was named the Preseason Player of the Year in the Mountain West and last season led San Diego State to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in as many years as an active member of the team and is the last remaining scholarship player on the team from the squad that played for the National Championship in April of 2023.
The Aztecs wrap up the exhibition season tomorrow night, Wednesday, October 29 at 7 p.m. PT against San Diego at Steve Fisher Court at Viejas Arena and then host Long Beach State in the regular season opener on Tuesday, November 4 at 7 p.m. PT.