Eligibility issues and an ankle injury limited Sharife Cooper to just 12 games during his first year at Auburn, but the freshman guard still may be prepared to go pro. Sources tell Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link) that Cooper is expected to declare for the 2021 NBA draft.
While Cooper hasn’t confirmed that decision yet, it won’t be a surprise if he decides to forgo his remaining college eligibility. After averaging 20.2 PPG and 8.1 APG in his 12 games with the Tigers, he’s currently the No. 17 player on ESPN’s big board of 2021 prospects, making him a strong candidate to be a first-round pick this summer.
Here’s more on the draft:
- Syracuse sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier will test the draft waters this spring, his former coach and longtime advisor Ibrahim Appiah told Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com. Guerrier, who averaged 13.7 PPG and 8.4 RPG in 28 games in 2020/21, could return to the Orange for at least one more year, depending on the feedback he receives.
- South Carolina junior forward Keyshawn Bryant is declaring for the draft without hiring an agent, he announced on Twitter. Bryant averaged 14.4 PPG and 5.4 RPG in 18 games (27.0 MPG) in 2020/21.
- Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) take a closer look at some of this year’s top prospects fared during the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, examining the play of Evan Mobley, Jalen Suggs, and Franz Wagner, among others.
The ankle problem might make teams look away from him. But, if he improved his shooting accuracy, he could become a steal.
Mobley and Wagner are good NBA talent. Plenty of upside there. Wagner is not a lottery pick to me. He will have issues with NBA defenses. He can’t get his own shot. And will have trouble defending. He will need time and some good coaching. Not a big fan really, for me. Definitely don’t want him on Knicks.
franz plays like mike dunleavy jr.
Sorry meant Mobley and Suggs have plenty of upside.
Off topic but the Supreme Court is set to blow up the NCAA in a soon to come ruling about compensation for players. Some of those alternate leagues for player development might get a shot in the arm as the NCAA might lose considerable power or even cease to exist.
I don’t get “cease to exist”. College sports are like pre-existing, part of college. Maybe they change, but if customers don’t want to pay to see teams with 18-23yos, there is no money to divvy up.
BB players do not have the market value they think they have… The associations do.
One of the main questions that is driving the case is why does economic competition drive up the cost of hiring coaches yet the players get the same deal year after year? Both are contributing labor to the benefit of the school yet only one is getting fairly paid to do that.
Admittedly, we are talking about programs that make millions and billions of $ for their schools. The system like the NCAA is a historical artifact of the days of true amateurism. Today, it exploits labor at below market price. It is literally a sweat shop.
That’s what sells. The players don’t. They are without value outside the sponsoring “sweat shop”. Basketballing is not a paying skill for most. A few elites may get a moderate TV deal. It’s the job of a new league to give them their value, if they can live on it without subsidies.
It’s a can of worms on the campuses, which like someone said, have bigger fish to fry than who is making what.
I see the decision will not occur before June.