Purdue freshman Caleb Swanigan intends to test the waters and enter the NBA Draft, Jon Rothstein of CBSSports reports (Twitter link). The power forward doesn’t intend to hire an agent, Rothstein notes, which means that he’ll retain his college eligibility in the event he decides to withdraw before the May 25th deadline for him to pull out.
The powerfully built freshman was projected to be taken in the latter part of the first round next year, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress ranking him No. 25 in his latest mock draft for 2017. It does remain to be seen whether or not Swanigan’s girth will be an issue with NBA teams and scouts, given that the 6’8″ forward weighs in at a sturdy 275 pounds.
Swanigan appeared in 34 games for the Boilermakers this season, averaging 10.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 25.7 minutes per outing. The power forward’s shooting numbers on the campaign were .461/.292/.713.