Draft Notes: Murray, Cardwell, Harvey, Oduro, Battle
Long Beach State’s Joel Murray is taking his name out the draft and returning to college, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. The senior guard averaged 16.7 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 2.8 APG last season.
We have more draft decisions to pass along:
- Dylan Cardwell has decided to return to Auburn, Rothstein tweets. Cardwell has been a reserve for the Tigers the past two seasons. He averaged 3.0 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 11.5 MPG last season.
- Well-traveled D.J. Harvey is expected to remain in the draft, Jeff Goodman of Stadium tweets. He played at Detroit last season after two years at Notre Dame and another at Vanderbilt. He averaged 8.2 PPG and 5.6 RPG for the Titans.
- Josh Oduro is withdrawing from the draft and heading back to George Mason, Goodman tweets. He averaged 17.7 PPG and 7.5 RPG for the Patriots last season.
- Temple’s Khalif Battle will return to school next season, his father told Rothstein (Twitter link). Battle later posted a cryptic tweet that read, “If it didn’t come out my mouth don’t believe it,” but given the lack of a clear denial, we’re assuming for now that Battle, who missed most of last season with a foot injury, will head back to college.
Draft Notes: Ellis, Murray, Roberts, Early Entrants
Alabama guard Keon Ellis, who has one year of college eligibility remaining, will go pro rather than staying in school for another year. Ellis has hired EZ Sports Group for representation, the agency announced earlier this week (via Instagram), making him draft-eligible this June.
The No. 48 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Ellis averaged 12.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 1.9 SPG in 33 games (30.9 MPG) in 2021/22 for the Crimson Tide and earned a spot on the SEC’s All-Defense team.
Another prospect in ESPN’s top 100, Iowa sophomore forward Kris Murray, has also declared for the 2022 NBA draft, but he’ll maintain his college eligibility and just test the waters for now, he announced on Twitter.
Murray, who comes in at No. 98 on ESPN’s board, barely played in his freshman year, but emerged as a rotation player in 2021/22, averaging 9.7 PPG and 4.3 RPG on .479/.387/.645 shooting in 35 games (17.9 MPG). His twin brother Keegan Murray, a projected top-10 pick, declared for the draft last month.
Here’s more on the draft:
- Jeremy Woo of SI.com, who shared his latest 2022 mock draft this week, has Jabari Smith going to Houston at No. 1 overall, followed by Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren.
- Stony Brook junior guard Anthony Roberts will forgo his final year of college eligibility and enter the draft, he announced (Twitter link). Playing for his third program in three years, Roberts was the Seawolves’ leading scorer in 2021/22 with 16.3 PPG.
- Agent Misko Raznatovic has announced that two of his Croatian clients – point guard Lovro Gnjidic and forward Leo Menalo – have declared for the draft (Twitter links). Neither player is a top-100 prospect, per ESPN. They’ll have until June 13 to withdraw from the draft, if they so choose.
- Here are some other players who recently announced they intend to test the draft waters this spring:
- Efe Abogidi, C, Washington State (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Keve Aluma, F, Virgina Tech (senior) (link via Mark Berman of The Roanoke Times)
- Khalif Battle, G, Temple (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Donald Carey, G, Georgetown (senior) (Instagram link)
- Jalen Cook, G, Tulane (sophomore) (Twitter link)
- Kevin Easley Jr., F, Duquesne (junior) (Twitter link)
- Gideon George, F, BYU (senior) (Twitter link)
- Ques Glover, G, Samford (junior) (Twitter link)
- Andre Kelly, F, California (senior) (Instagram link)
- DeMarr Langford Jr., G, Boston College (sophomore) (Twitter link via Jason Smith)
- KC Ndefo, F, St. Peter’s (senior) (link via Adam Zagoria of NJ.com)
- DeAndre Williams, F, Memphis (senior) (Instagram link)