College players who are “testing the draft waters” this spring, having entered the 2022 NBA draft pool while maintaining their NCAA eligibility, will have to make a final decision this week on whether or not to go pro.
The NCAA has set a withdrawal deadline of Wednesday, June 1 at 11:59 pm Eastern time (10 days after the end of the draft combine). A player who still has college eligibility left but who doesn’t pull out of the draft pool by that deadline will forgo his remaining eligibility and won’t be able to return to his school or transfer to a new one for the 2022/23 season.
A total of 247 college players – either underclassmen or seniors who still have an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19 – initially entered the draft prior to April’s early entry deadline.
In the weeks since then, many have either opted to withdraw after getting feedback on their stock, or have made a final decision to remain in the draft. However, as our early entrant tracker shows, there are still dozens with decisions to make by Wednesday night.
A college player who doesn’t withdraw from the draft by Wednesday’s deadline still technically has another 12 days to do so, since the NBA’s own withdrawal deadline is on Monday, June 13 at 5:00 pm ET, 10 days ahead of the June 23 draft.
However, a college player who pulls out of the draft pool at that point would no longer have his NCAA eligibility, so he’d have to play in a non-NBA league for the 2022/23 season. That’s why the NBA’s withdrawal deadline is often only meaningful for international players, who don’t have to worry about the NCAA’s rules.
NC State’s Terquavion Smith, Duke’s Trevor Keels, Wake Forest’s Jake LaRavia, and Colorado State’s David Roddy are some of the top-50 prospects on ESPN’s big board who have yet to formally confirmed whether they’ll stay in the draft. We’ll be tracking their decisions – and all the rest – ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.