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Draft Decisions: Murrell, Baker, Broome, Cross, Cryer, More

May 30th, 2023 at 12:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell is pulling out of the 2023 NBA draft and returning to school for at least one more year, reports ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Murrell, who will be a senior in 2023/24, sounds intent on re-entering the draft next spring.

“After gathering feedback from my workouts and team personnel, I am going to continue to build my game at Ole Miss, so I am in the position I want to be in for the 2024 NBA draft,” he said. “I know who I am as a player and how that can translate to the NBA.”

Murrell’s shooting percentages dipped in his junior season, as he made just 36.5% of his shots from the floor, including 30.4% of his three-pointers. But he established new career highs in points (14.4), rebounds (3.5), and assists (2.6) per game and looks like a potential All-SEC player and 2024 second-round pick, according to Givony, who says the “physically gifted” wing impressed NBA executives at a pro day in Chicago earlier this month.

Like Murrell, several other early entrants have opted to remove their names from this year’s draft as the withdrawal deadline for early entrants nears. Here are several of the other players who are headed back to school:

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Draft Notes: Clark, Miles, Cryer, Cook, Wahab, Pullin

March 29th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Following a breakout junior season, UCLA guard Jaylen Clark has decided to declare for the 2023 NBA draft, he announced today on Instagram.

After coming off the bench in 54 of 60 games during his first college seasons, Clark was a full-time starter in 2022/23, averaging 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game in 30 contests (30.5 MPG). More notably, he was named the Defensive Player of the Year for the Pac-12 and was also a member of the All-Pac-12 team.

Clark is currently just outside the top 60 on ESPN’s big board, so he’s no lock to be drafted. He has the option of maintaining his college eligibility while testing the draft waters, but his Instagram statement gives no indication that’s the plan — our assumption for now is that he intends to keep his name in the draft and go pro.

Here are a few more updates on early entrants declaring for the 2023 draft:

  • TCU junior guard Mike Miles, who comes in five spots below Clark on ESPN’s top-100 list, has also declared for the draft, he announced today on Twitter. Miles averaged 17.9 PPG on .497/.362/.749 shooting in 27 games (31.9 MPG) in 2022/23. Like Clark, he doesn’t say anything in his announcement about maintaining his NCAA eligibility through the draft process.
  • Baylor junior guard LJ Cryer will test the draft waters, according to an announcement on Twitter. Cryer won a national title with the Bears in 2021 and became a full-time starter in 2022/23, averaging 15.0 PPG with a .415 3PT% and earning All-Big 12 honors.
  • Tulane junior guard Jalen Cook is entering both the transfer portal and the NBA draft pool, tweets Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Cook is coming off his second consecutive All-AAC season and upped his scoring average to 19.9 PPG.
  • Georgetown senior center Qudus Wahab tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link) that he’s entering the draft while maintaining his final year of NCAA eligibility. Wahab spent his first two college seasons at Georgetown, transferred to Maryland for his junior season, then returned to the Hoyas last year.
  • Zyon Pullin, a senior guard at UC-Riverside, is entering the draft after averaging a team-leading 18.3 PPG in 2022/23, he tells Jeff Borzello of ESPN (Twitter link). Pullin, who also tested the draft waters in 2022, is signing with an NCAA-certified agent, so he’ll have the option of withdrawing later this spring.
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