After announcing 50 withdrawals from the draft last month, the NBA has officially confirmed (via Twitter) that 13 additional early entrant prospects withdrew from the draft prior to Sunday’s deadline, leaving a total of 46 early entrants eligible to be selected in this year’s draft in addition to 2025’s automatically draft-eligible players.
Of those 46 draft-eligible early entrants, 28 are players from colleges (25 underclassmen and three seniors with eligibility remaining), 16 had been playing in international leagues, and two spent last season in the G League.
This year’s 46 early entrants represents the lowest total in well over a decade, since before the NCAA allowed prospects to test the draft waters — it’s just a fraction of the record set in 2021, when 217 early entrants kept their names in the draft. The sharp decline in early entrants in recent years is a reflection of the new NIL opportunities available to college players, who now have less motivation to go pro early in order to get paid.
[RELATED: Full 2025 NBA Draft Order]
A total of 109 prospects initially declared as early entrants, with 50 of those players removing their names from consideration prior to the NCAA’s May 28 withdrawal deadline to retain their college eligibility.
Here’s the complete list of early entrant prospects eligible for the 2025 NBA draft:
College underclassmen:
- Ace Bailey, G/F, Rutgers (freshman)
- Carter Bryant, F, Arizona (freshman)
- Egor Demin, G, BYU (freshman)
- V.J. Edgecombe, G, Baylor (freshman)
- Jeremiah Fears, G, Oklahoma (freshman)
- Cooper Flagg, F, Duke (freshman)
- Rasheer Fleming, F/C, St. Joseph’s (junior)
- Dylan Harper, G, Rutgers (freshman)
- Kasparas Jakucionis, G, Illinois (freshman)
- Tre Johnson, G, Texas (freshman)
- Kon Knueppel, G/F, Duke (freshman)
- RJ Luis, F, St. John’s (junior)
- Khaman Maluach, C, Duke (freshman)
- Liam McNeeley, F, UConn (freshman)
- Collin Murray-Boyles, F, South Carolina (sophomore)
- Asa Newell, F, Georgia (freshman)
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, F/C, Penn State (junior)
- Drake Powell, G/F, UNC (freshman)
- Tyrese Proctor, G, Duke (junior)
- Derik Queen, C, Maryland (freshman)
- Jase Richardson, G, Michigan State (freshman)
- Will Riley, F, Illinois (freshman)
- Thomas Sorber, F/C, Georgetown (freshman)
- Adou Thiero, F, Arkansas (junior)
- Danny Wolf, F/C, Michigan (junior)
College seniors:
- Cedric Coward, F, Washington State
- Omar Rowe, G, Morehouse
- Jamir Watkins, G/F, Florida State
International players:
Note: The country indicates where the player had been playing, not necessarily where he was born.
- Izan Almansa, F/C, Australia (born 2005)
- Joan Beringer, C, Slovenia (born 2006)
- Mohamed Diawara, F, France (born 2005)
- Noa Essengue, F, Germany (born 2006)
- Hugo Gonzalez, F, Spain (born 2006)
- Bogoljub Markovic, F/C, Serbia (born 2005)
- Muodubem Muoneke, G, Spain (born 2003)
- Ousmane N’Diaye, F/C, Spain (born 2004)
- Eli Ndiaye, C, Spain (born 2004)
- Saliou Niang, F, Italy (born 2004)
- Noah Penda, F, France (born 2005)
- Ben Saraf, G, Germany (born 2006)
- Alex Toohey, F, Australia (born 2004)
- Nolan Traore, G, France (born 2006)
- Hansen Yang, C, China (born 2005)
- Rocco Zikarsky, C, Australia (born 2006)
Other players
- Isaac Nogues, G, Rip City Remix (born 2004)
- Dink Pate, G/F, Mexico City Capitanes (born 2006)
For the full list of the players who declared for the draft and then withdrew, click here.
Wow, 46 compared to 217 guys in 2021.
No wonder there are so many competent undrafted guys from that 2021 year – Champagnie, Hauser, Alvarado, Huff, Austin Reaves, Watford. I probably forgot somebody too.
And in general, that draft year is probably the richest in talent in memory, looking at who went in the first round.
Also, does this make late 2nd round picks useless?
That 2021 number was a bit of an outlier because the NCAA didn’t count the 2020/21 season toward player’s eligibility (due to COVID-19), so every senior who left school that year was considered an early entrant, since they could’ve played in the NCAA for one more season. 137 of the 217 early entrants that year were college seniors.
Still, 46 is quite low. First time in ages I can remember there being fewer early entrants than picks in the draft.
I think Beringer is actually French and not Slovenian? So, I guess the other 13 draft spots will be filled by those who exhausted their NCAA eligibility?
Is this because of NIL? In theory, a player could use the extra season to develop their skills. 2026 might be a deeper draft because of it.
Beringer is French, yeah. There’s a note at the top of that section indicating the country is where they’ve been playing, not necessarily where they’re from.
I doubt all 46 of these guys will be drafted — there will almost certainly be more than 13 automatically draft-eligible players who get picked.
Sorry. Missed that.
What incentive do a lot of kids have in this era to leave college early if they’re not a sure first-rounder? To ride the bench and play in the G-League when they can be getting NIL money? Colleges can also pay them outright now thanks to that court ruling a few weeks ago. Plus overseas money, competition, and skills development keeps getting better!