UC Irvine junior center Mamadou Ndiaye has declared for the 2016 NBA draft, Shams Charania of The Vertical reports. The big man doesn’t intend to hire an agent immediately but is planning on doing so later on in the draft process, Charania adds. It’s unclear if this means that Ndiaye is 100% committed to leaving school or if his intent to delay securing representation means he will only hire an agent if he doesn’t withdraw prior to the May 25th deadline.
Ndiaye, 7’6″, is one of the two tallest players in the NCAA along with UCF’s Tacko Fall. While height will always be a valuable commodity in the NBA, the 22-year-old isn’t guaranteed to be selected this June. Ndiaye entered school as the No. 84 overall player according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index and is currently ranked as the No. 30 overall junior by Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. He comes in at No. 166 on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s big board.
The native of Senegal appeared in 35 games this season and averaged 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in 23.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .667/.000/.642.