Ousmane Diop

Deadline Day For Early Entrant Draft Decisions

Today is Monday, July 19, which means it’s deadline day for the early entrants who declared for the 2021 NBA draft. Those players have until 5:00 pm ET today to decide whether they’ll remain in this year’s draft pool or remove their names and become draft-eligible in a future year.

The NCAA always sets its own early entrant withdrawal deadline that comes before the NBA’s deadline, and that one occurred earlier this month, on July 7. Most college players who are going to pull out of the draft did so by that deadline

A college player could theoretically wait until today to withdraw from the draft. However, in that scenario he’d lose his NCAA eligibility and would likely end up playing professionally in an international league for the next year before becoming draft-eligible.

Most of the players who will withdraw between July 7 and today’s deadline are international prospects who don’t have to worry about the NCAA’s rules. According to recent reports, these are some of the players who have removed their names from the draft pool after initially declaring as early entrants:

Once today’s deadline passes, the NBA will put out an official list of the early entrants who are eligible to be drafted in 2021. That list typically shows up within about 24 hours of the withdrawal deadline, though it’s possible it could take a little longer this year since the list of eligible players will be longer (since NCAA seniors are also on it). In the meantime, our extremely unofficial early entrant list can be found right here.

One international early entrant who won’t be withdrawing, according to Givony (Twitter link), is Juhann Begarin, who will turn 19 next month. The French shooting guard is coming off a strong season playing for Paris Basketball, and agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Givony that his client will keep his name in the draft.

Draft Notes: Njie, Chougkaz, Alocen, Diop, Diouf, Camara

International point guard Barra Njie is declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft after spending last season in Sweden, agent Jerry Dianis told Hoops Rumors.

The 6’3″ Njie was the Rookie of the Year in the Swedish Basketball League, averaging 17.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. His impressive athleticism and crafty scoring ability are two intriguing pieces of his game, possessing a 6’10” wingspan at just 20 years of age.

Njie attended St. Benedict’s Preparatory School before heading overseas. He was also teammates with Precious Achiuwa in 2018-19. Achiuwa was drafted No. 20 overall by Miami in last year’s event.

Here are some other draft decisions announced today:

  • Greek forward Nikos Chougkaz has declared for the draft, as relayed by Sportando. Chougkaz plans to keep his name in this year’s pool after averaging 10.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game with Ionikos in the Greek Basket League last season.
  • Spanish senior national team guard Carlos Alocen has also declared for the draft, Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets. Alocen appeared in 63 games for Real Madrid during the Euroleague, ACB and domestic cups this past season.
  • In addition to Njie, Chougkaz and Alocen, Italian-based players Ousmane Diop, Mouhamet Diouf and Gora Camara have also declared for the draft, Givony reports (via Twitter). The deadline for early entrants to declare for the draft is Sunday night at 11:59pm ET. This year’s draft is set to be held on Thursday, July 29.