LSU power forward Trendon Watford has declared for the NBA draft, confirming his decision to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
“I am announcing my decision to declare for the NBA draft,” Watford. “Thank you to all who have supported me throughout all the years and a special thanks to my family and friends who have been along this journey.”
Watford is the No. 73 prospect in 2020’s draft class, according to ESPN. He was a top recruit out of high school and a McDonald’s All-American, then averaged 13.6 PPG and a team-best 7.2 RPG in 31 games (31.6 MPG) as a freshman in 2019/20.
Watford will maintain his college eligibility as he goes through the draft process, his brother tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The 2020 draft is still scheduled for June 25, though with the COVID-19 crisis ongoing, it’s possible the event gets pushed back.
“I really don’t know what the draft process will look like,” Watford told Givony. “I’m just hopeful that things will return to normal somewhat and I can get a chance to audition and work out for teams. If not then I will be focused on handling the interview process as best as I possibly can with the outcome of being a first round pick. I really want to go through the process because you dream about these things as a kid. I think I would raise my stock also. I’m still hopeful that we will have a combine and some workouts.
“In the meantime, the thing we all can do to help this situation is take it serious and practice social distancing. That’s the simplest thing but also the most effective. People are really losing their lives and loved ones so you can’t be selfish in that aspect. You may wonder why this would happen during this moment of my career, but it’s way bigger than that.”