Sunday was the NCAA’s deadline for early entrants to the 2015 NBA draft to withdraw and retain their college eligibility, though that deadline isn’t one that spurred a lot of action. That’s because players who haven’t formally declared or signed with an agent don’t need to make a final decision until April 26th, the deadline the NBA has set for underclassmen to enter. In essence, prospects can just hang low until that deadline even if they’ve made up their minds so that they can turn back if they have a change of heart. Here’s the latest on a couple of players still weighing their options:
- Arizona freshman Stanley Johnson is looking for assurances that he’ll be a top-10 pick this year before he declares for the draft, as Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress hears (Twitter link). Still, Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com would be shocked if he stayed in school (Twitter link). Johnson, who was reportedly “really torn” as he pondered the decision last week, is Givony‘s ninth-ranked prospect while Chad Ford of ESPN.com lists him 11th. Jay Z has met with Johnson to try to recruit him to his Roc Nation Sports Agency, reports Shams Charania of RealGM.
- Providence is pressing sophomore point guard Kris Dunn to return to school, telling him that he’d go late in the first round this year but would be a top-five pick in 2016, as Givony hears (Twitter link). NBA executives nonetheless view Dunn as a late lottery pick this year, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, backing up Givony‘s ranking of the 21-year-old as the 14th-best prospect. Ford has him 20th.
- Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, in a pair of pieces, profiles the versatile and deft-passing combo forward Ben Simmons and the slick-shooting forward/center Skal Labissiere, two of the prime contenders to become the No. 1 overall pick in 2016.