11:09am: Embiid says via Twitter that he has yet to make a decision (hat tip to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders).
8:08am: Potential No. 1 overall pick Joel Embiid has decided to enter the draft, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, with a formal announcement to come soon. The Kansas freshman center hasn’t played since March 1st with a stress fracture in his back. Jayhawks coach Bill Self maintained that Embiid could have played in the later rounds of the NCAA tournament if Kansas had advanced, but NBA teams have some concern about the injury, which will undergo close scrutiny during predraft medical evaluations.
Embiid was widely considered the slight favorite to become the top pick before the injury. The native of Cameroon is the No. 2 pick on Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress board and Chad Ford of ESPN.com rates him third. The 20-year-old is a raw talent and came off the bench for the first eight games of the season, but he has shown vast potential on both sides of the ball. He averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 23.1 minutes per game this year.
The 7-footer gave indication in January that he wasn’t sure about heading for the draft, but it appears the chance to go in the top three picks, if not first overall, is too appealing to pass up. A loss to Stanford this weekend knocked Kansas out of the tournament, likely ending his college career. He has yet to select an agent, but this week he’s made progress toward a decision, according to Wojnarowski.