After testing the waters as an early entrant, sophomore guard Jaland Lowe has decided to withdraw from the 2025 NBA draft, he announced today on Instagram.
Lowe spent his first two college seasons at Pittsburgh and averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game for the Panthers in 2024/25, though he struggled to score efficiently, making just 37.6% of his shots from the floor, including 26.6% of his three-pointers.
Lowe was invited to the G League Elite Camp in Chicago earlier this month, but wasn’t on ESPN’s list of top 100 prospects for 2025, so he would’ve had an uphill climb to be drafted this year. He’ll be transferring to Kentucky for his junior year as he looks to improve his stock.
A couple more prospects who are transferring to new schools have also decided to pull their names out of the 2025 draft pool, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter links). Rothstein reports that forward Jerry Deng and guard Melvin Council Jr. will retain their NCAA eligibility and continue their college careers.
Deng spent his freshman season at Hampton University before transferring to Florida State for his sophomore year. He’s on the move again and will play for N.C. State as a junior in 2025/26, Rothstein notes. Deng averaged 7.0 PPG and 1.9 RPG in a limited role for the Seminoles last season.
As for Council, he has one year of college eligibility remaining and will take advantage of it by transferring from St. Bonaventure to Kansas. In 34 games in 2024/25 for the Bonnies, Council averaged 14.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 4.1 APG, and 2.1 SPG in 37.1 MPG, with a shooting line of .435/.299/.819. He’ll be automatically draft-eligible in 2026.
The deadline for NCAA early entrants to withdraw from the draft and retain their college eligibility is May 28 at 11:59 pm Eastern time, so there will likely be many more decisions reported in the coming days. We’re tracking those decisions right here.
The NBA’s final draft withdrawal deadline is June 15, so international early entrants who don’t have to worry about losing their NCAA eligibility will make their decisions by that date.