Andre Jones

Three Early Entrants Withdrawing From NBA Draft

The list of early entrants for the 2020 NBA draft continues to slowly thin out. According to a series of reports from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, three more players are removing their names from this year’s draft pool and returning to school for one more season.

Clemson forward Aamir Simms has informed Rothstein (Twitter link) that he’s withdrawing from the draft after testing the waters. Simms enjoyed a breakout junior year for the Tigers in 2019/20, averaging 13.0 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 2.6 APG with a .474/.400/.705 shooting line in 30 games (31.6 MPG). He’ll return to Clemson for his senior season.

A source tells Rothstein (Twitter link) that Vermont guard Stef Smith is also heading back to school for his senior year rather than remaining in the draft. Smith was the Catamounts’ second-leading scorer as a junior, with 14.2 PPG and an impressive .423 3PT% in 33 games (28.4 MPG).

Finally, Nicholls State guard Andre Jones is withdrawing from the draft after testing the waters, he tells Rothstein (Twitter link). Jones, who transferred after two years at Little Rock, averaged 12.3 PPG and 2.8 APG on .513/.313/.732 shooting in 30 games (24.3 MPG) as a junior at Nicholls State.

None of Simms, Smith, or Jones showed up in ESPN’s list of the top 100 prospects in the 2020 draft class, so their decisions to pull out and return to school don’t come as a major surprise.

Draft Notes: Simonovic, Miskovic, Bajo, A. Jones

As we detailed on Wednesday, the deadline for early entrants to declare for the 2020 NBA draft is just days away. Players who aren’t automatically draft-eligible have until the end of the day on Sunday, April 26 to submit their names into this year’s draft pool.

With that in mind, 2020’s list of early entrants continues to grow. Here are details on a few of the latest names joining that group:

  • Montenegrin center Marko Simonovic, who played this season for Mega Bemax in Serbia, has entered the 2020 draft, according to agent Misko Raznatovic (Twitter link). The 20-year-old is not to be confused with the Serbian player of the same name who has been playing professionally since 2003 and is currently a member of Unicaja.
  • Serbian forward Nikola Miskovic has entered the draft, Raznatovic announced (via Twitter). The MVP of 2017’s Europe U18 Championship was also playing for Mega Bemax this season after testing the draft waters last spring.
  • Another of Raznatovic’s clients, Croatian forward Darko Bajo, has declared for the draft again after withdrawing last spring, the agent announced (on Twitter). The 21-year-old played this season for Croatian team KK Split.
  • Nicholls State junior guard Andre Jones recently announced on Twitter that he has decided to test the draft waters. Jones, who transferred after two years at Little Rock, averaged 12.3 PPG and 2.8 APG on .513/.313/.732 in 30 games (24.3 MPG) in 2019/20.