The deadline for potential early entrants to declare for the 2020 NBA draft fell on April 26 at 11:59pm ET, which means prospects who aren’t automatically draft-eligible can no longer enter this year’s pool.
Players who have entered the draft don’t necessarily have to stay in, as long as they haven’t hired an agent — or as long as they’re working with one of 23 agents certified by the NCAA. Currently, the deadline for NCAA players to withdraw from the draft and maintain their college eligibility is June 3, though it’s possible that date will be adjusted if the NBA draft is postponed.
The NBA has a separate withdrawal deadline from the NCAA’s, allowing prospects to pull out as late as 10 days before the draft. With the draft scheduled for June 25, the NBA’s withdrawal deadline is June 15 — that date is generally the one to watch for international prospects, who don’t have to worry about maintaining NCAA eligibility.
Our full list of early entrants can be found right here. While we did our best to make our list as accurate as possible, some players who declared in recent weeks may have slipped through the cracks, while others reported to have entered the draft may have had a change of heart.
The NBA should formally release its initial early entrant list for 2020 within the next two or three days, so we’ll update our list at that point to reflect the league’s official data.
Here are the latest additions we’ve made to our list:
- Milan Acquaah, G, California Baptist (junior) (Twitter link)
- Dachon Burke, G, Nebraska (junior) (Twitter link)
- Zach Cooks, G, NJIT (junior) (link via Instagram)
- Aaron Henry, F, Michigan State (sophomore) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- Rokas Jokubaitis, G, Lithuania (born 2000) (Twitter link via Donatas Urbonas)
- Matt Mitchell, F, San Diego State (junior) (link via Associated Press)
- CJ Walker, G, Ohio State (junior) (Instagram link)
And here are a couple players who had previously planned to enter the draft who ended up opting to return to school instead. They’ve been removed from our list:
- Kendric Davis, G, SMU (sophomore) (link via Dallas Morning News)
- Oscar Tshiebwe, F/C, West Virginia (freshman) (Twitter link)
It appears there are approximately 190-ish early entrants in this year’s draft pool, which would be a significant step down from the last couple years, when that total has been in the neighborhood of 235.
Of course, as ESPN’s Jonathan Givony notes (via Twitter), the real question will be how many of these initial early entrants end up staying in the draft. That number landed at 98 last year, and 91 in 2018. It will likely end up lower this year, not just because the early total is lower, but due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Givony observes, many prospects who entered the draft may not have much more info about where they stand by the June 3 withdrawal deadline than they have now.
Where can you find which ones of these guys have hired agents and therefore cannot go back to college, and those who have not hired an agent and can withdraw later and go back to school?