LEXINGTON, Ky. — The NCAA’s deadline for players to withdraw their names from entering the NBA draft was Tuesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The NCAA’s deadline for players to withdraw their names from entering the NBA draft was Tuesday.
However, no announcements were expected from Kentucky and as of about 7 p.m. EDT, none had been made though the Wildcats have as many as five players possibly leaving early.
Coach John Calipari said his Wildcats are adhering to the NBA’s deadline of April 29 to decide their futures.
Around the nation, the dual and dueling deadlines have players and coaching staffs wondering what’s next during this confusing 19-day window.
Some players — including Kansas’ Thomas Robinson and Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger — have already said they’re entering the draft.
Others, like Indiana teammates Cody Zeller and Christian Watford, and Duke’s Mason Plumlee are coming back. The new rule does have a major impact: players can’t work out for NBA teams before making a decision.
So far, a group of more than two dozen players have declared for the NBA draft, but there is still a handful more undecided about their futures with the five Kentucky players leading the way.
“They’re not feeling pressured by me or anybody else,” Calipari said. “They have (until) the 29th to make that decision on what they are going to do.”
AP Player of the Year Anthony Davis along with fellow freshmen Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague and sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones have been mum about their futures since winning the national championship last Monday over Kansas.
The group returned home to Lexington last week to a raucous celebration and maintained a low profile beyond Davis’ appearance with late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel where he said he wasn’t announcing his intentions any time soon.
“I’m waiting until April 29,” Davis said. “That’s when a decision has to be made.”
The NBA’s first deadline is the early entry eligibility deadline just before midnight on April 29.
The NCAA’s deadline at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday night and only applies to underclassmen who have already declared for the draft and wish to retain their eligibility. Any underclassman who declares between April 11-29 will relinquish all of his remaining eligibility, according to the NCAA.
But the NCAA’s deadline has forced players to make up their minds much faster and with less information beyond the confidential projections of the NBA’s undergraduate advisory committee.
Just this week, reports swirled that Michigan’s Trey Burke would join the draft, only for him to decide to return to Ann Arbor for his sophomore season. Plumlee was also on the fence, too, but decided Tuesday to return to the Blue Devils.