MARCH 30th, 3:20pm: Whitehead confirmed that he is entering the NBA draft via his personal Twitter account. The shooting guard also relayed that he doesn’t intend to hire an agent at this time.
MARCH 18th, 10:15pm: Seton Hall shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead intends to enter the 2016 NBA Draft, Pirates coach Kevin Willard tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv. The 21-year-old is currently ranked as the 30th best sophomore in the NCAA by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and he lands at No. 30 overall on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s big board.
Despite his reported intent on entering the NBA next season, it doesn’t mean that Whitehead is necessarily draft-bound, as new rules allow underclassmen to “test the waters” and take part in the NBA combine while still maintaining their college eligibility should they decide to withdraw from the draft. It’s unclear if the sophomore intends to hire an agent, Zagoria notes. However, if Whitehead does secure representation, it would preclude him from returning to school in 2016/17 per NCAA rules.
Whitehead appeared in 34 games this season and averaged 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 32.3 minutes per contest. His slash line for the campaign is .379/.365/.760.
Whitehead flopped on the biggest stage. However, he had a great Big East tournament. He’ll have to prove he can hit his jumpers consistently.