Draft Decisions: Bone, Harper, Simonds, Brooks, More
The NCAA’s withdrawal deadline for 2019’s early entrants is less than 12 hours away. Players who want to pull out of the draft and retain their college eligibility have until 11:59 pm eastern time tonight to officially do so.
We’re tracking all the players who have withdrawn from the draft on our early entrants list. Here are the latest decisions:
Staying in the draft:
- Tennesee junior guard Jordan Bone announced in a video on Twitter that he’ll keep his name in the 2019 NBA draft pool. Bone is the No. 58 prospect on ESPN’s big board, making him a solid candidate to be drafted.
- Auburn junior guard Jared Harper is expected to go pro too, keeping his name in the draft, reports Jeff Goodman of Stadium (via Twitter). Harper is at No. 64 on ESPN’s top-100 list.
- Despite not showing up in ESPN’s top 100, Georgia State junior guard D’Marcus Simonds will also remain in the draft, forgoing his final year of his college eligibility, sources tell Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link).
- Another prospect outside of ESPN’s top 100, Houston junior guard Armoni Brooks, has announced (via Twitter) that he’ll stay in the draft and begin his professional career.
Withdrawing from the draft:
- Gonzaga got some good news on Tuesday night, as a source informed Rothstein (Twitter link) that forward Filip Petrusev will return for his sophomore season. Additionally, Goodman reports (via Twitter) that forward Killian Tillie is expected to rejoin the Zags for his senior year.
- Freshman forward Emmitt Williams, who was one of six LSU players to test the draft waters, will head back to school for at least one more season, a source tells Goodman (Twitter link).
- Glenville State junior forward Phil Bledsoe told Kyle Boone of CBS Sports (Twitter link) that he has withdrawn from the draft. However, as Aaron Beard of The Associated Press explains, Bledsoe may have eligibility concerns going forward, since the new NCAA rule allowing prospects to hire an agent while testing the waters only applies to D-I players, rather than D-II players like Bledsoe. Agent Jerry Dianis remains confident that the NCAA will allow Bledsoe to return for his senior year.
- A pair of early entrants are withdrawing from the draft and transferring. UNLV freshman forward Joel Ntambwe announced (via Twitter) that he’s making the move to Texas Tech, while SMU junior guard Jimmy Whitt will return to Arkansas, where he began his college career.
- Mississippi State forward Reggie Perry announced in a Twitter video that he’ll be back for his sophomore season.
- Boston College forward Nik Popovic is expected to take advantage of his final year of NCAA eligibility by going back to school for his senior season, sources tell Rothstein (Twitter link).
- Louisiana Tech junior guard DaQuan Bracey and South Florida junior guard Laquincy Rideau will both withdraw from the draft and return to school, according to a pair of tweets from Goodman.
- Rothstein reports (via a pair of tweets) that TCU freshman center Kevin Samuel and Xavier junior guard Quentin Goodin will pull out of the draft after testing the waters.
- Maryland junior guard Anthony Cowan is expected to withdraw from the draft tonight to return to school for one more year, tweets Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com.
- Creighton guard Davion Mintz will report back to the Bluejays for his senior year, he tells Goodman (Twitter link). Goodman’s full list of prospects returning to school also includes UNC Greensboro junior forward James Dickey, so it appears he withdrew from the draft too.
Latest On Early Entrants List For 2019 NBA Draft
The deadline for early entrants to declare for the 2019 NBA draft fell on Sunday night, with plenty of NCAA underclassmen and international prospects entering their names into the draft before that deadline.
News continues to trickle in on players making draft decisions, and it will just be a matter of time before the NBA issues an official list of the players who declared for the 2019 NBA draft as early entrants. Once that group is set, the next key deadline to watch will be May 29 — that’s the last day for NCAA players to withdraw from draft consideration while retaining their college eligibility.
Here are many of the early entrants who have declared for the draft within the past couple days (our full list can be found here):
NCAA early entrants:
- James Banks III, F, Georgia Tech (junior) (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of SI.com)
- Phil Bledsoe, F, Glenville State (junior) (link via Ryan Decker of 12 WBOY)
- Marques Bolden, C, Duke (junior) (press release via Duke)
- Jarron Cumberland, G, Cincinnati (junior) (press release via Cincinnati)
- Note: Cumberland is the No. 91 prospect on Jonathan Givony’s big board at ESPN.com.
- Tulio Da Silva, F, Missouri State (junior) (press release via Missouri State)
- Silvio De Sousa, F, Kansas (sophomore) (Twitter link via De Sousa)
- Javin DeLaurier, F, Duke (junior) (press release via Duke)
- Kevon Harris, G, Stephen F. Austin (junior) (via agent Jerry Dianis)
- Malik Maitland, G, Bethune-Cookman (junior) (Twitter link via Maitland)
- Jermaine Marrow, G, Hampton (junior) (link via Dave Johnson of The Daily Press)
- Zach Norvell Jr., G, Gonzaga (sophomore) (press release via Gonzaga)
- Joel Ntambwe, F, UNLV (freshman) (Twitter link via Rothstein)
- Jalen Pickett, G, Siena (freshman) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- Nick Richards, F, Kentucky (sophomore) (press release via Kentucky)
- Xavier Sneed, F, Kansas State (junior) (link via KWCH.com)
- Killian Tillie, F, Gonzaga (junior) (press release via Gonzaga)
- Note: Tillie is the No. 82 prospect on Givony’s big board.
International early entrants:
- Dikembe Andre, C, Brazil (born 1999) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- Kevin Cham, G, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Leo Cizmic, F, Croatia (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Digue Diawara, F, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Nenad Dimitrijevic, G, Macedonia (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Felipe Dos Anjos, C, Brazil (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Yago Mateus Dos Santos, G, Brazil (born 1999) (link via Cancha Latina)
- Paul Eboua, F, Cameroon (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Osas Ehigiator, C, Spain (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Biram Faye, F, Senegal (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Ivan Fevrier, F, France (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Aleix Font, G/F, Spain (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Kadre Gray, G, Laurentian (Canada) (junior) (Twitter link via Barry Hayes)
- Lukasz Kolenda, G, Poland (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Muhaymin Mustafa, G, Turkey (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Joshua Obiesie, G, Germany (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Note: Obiesie is the No. 46 prospect on Givony’s big board.
- Zoran Paunovic, G, Serbia (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Dino Radoncic, F, Montenegro (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Sander Raieste, F, Estonia (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Neal Sako, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Luka Samanic, F, Croatia (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Note: Samanic is the No. 39 prospect on Givony’s big board.
- Njegos Sikiras, F, Bosnia (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Borisa Simanic, F, Serbia (born 1998) (Twitter link via agent Misko Raznatovic)
- Khadim Sow, C, Senegal (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Michael Uchendu, C, Brazil (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Bastien Vautier, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Warren Woghiren, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
