Mobile Menu
HEADLINES

Uros Trifunovic

Jared Butler, Others Enter 2021 NBA Draft

May 31st, 2021 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

Ahead of Sunday’s early entry deadline, Baylor junior guard Jared Butler announced (via Twitter) that he was declaring for the 2021 NBA draft. While his announcement doesn’t explicitly state that he’s forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility, it strongly suggests he intends to go pro.

While it took a while for him to make it official, Butler was always considered a good bet to enter this year’s draft following an impressive 2020/21 campaign in which he averaged 16.7 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 2.0 SPG on .471/.416/.780 shooting in 30 games (30.3 MPG) for the eventual national champs.

A consensus first-team All-American, Butler was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player after the Bears defeated Gonzaga in the championship game. He’s the No. 23 prospect on ESPN’s big board, making him a strong candidate to be a first-round pick in July.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

  • Fresno State sophomore guard Deon Stroud is testing the draft waters while maintaining his NCAA eligibility, according to an announcement from the school (Twitter link). Stroud, who began his college career at UTEP, averaged 12.2 PPG on .482/.357/.613 shooting in 23 games (23.1 MPG) in 2020/21.
  • Italian wing Gabriele Procida has declared for the draft, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, who tweets that the 18-year-old is a projected second-round pick.
  • Givony also published a series of tweets listing several more international players who have entered the 2021 NBA draft pool. Those players are as follows (the countries listed represent where they last played, not where they were born):
  • Since the NBA’s early entry deadline has now passed, we should get a full, official list of early entrants from the league on Tuesday. In the meantime, our unofficial tracker is here.
Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0

Official Early Entrants List For 2020 NBA Draft

November 10th, 2020 at 8:29am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced that 84 early entrant prospects will be eligible to be selected in the 2020 NBA draft next Wednesday. Of those early entrants, 71 are players from college or other educational institutions, while the remaining 13 are international prospects.

Although the number of early entrants is higher than the number of picks in the draft (60), the list of early entrants is still significantly smaller than it was at the NBA’s initial entry deadline in April. At that point, 205 early entrants had declared for the draft. After testing the waters, more than half of those players withdrew their names

Here’s the complete list of early entrant prospects eligible for the 2020 NBA draft:

College Players:

  1. Precious Achiuwa, F, Memphis (freshman)
  2. Milan Acquaah, G, California Baptist (junior)
  3. Ty-Shon Alexander, G, Creighton (junior)
  4. Cole Anthony, G, North Carolina (freshman)
  5. Brendan Bailey, F, Marquette (sophomore)
  6. Saddiq Bey, F, Villanova (sophomore)
  7. Tyler Bey, F, Colorado (junior)
  8. Jermaine Bishop, G, Norfolk State (junior)
  9. Dachon Burke, G, Nebraska (junior)
  10. Vernon Carey Jr., C, Duke (freshman)
  11. Nate Darling, G, Delaware (junior)
  12. Lamine Diane, F, Cal State Northridge (sophomore)
  13. Devon Dotson, G, Kansas (sophomore)
  14. Anthony Edwards, G, Georgia (freshman)
  15. CJ Elleby, F, Washington State (sophomore)
  16. Malik Fitts, F, Saint Mary’s (junior)
  17. Malachi Flynn, G, San Diego State (junior)
  18. Josh Green, G/F, Arizona (freshman)
  19. Ashton Hagans, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
  20. Tyrese Haliburton, G, Iowa State (sophomore)
  21. Josh Hall, F, Moravian Prep (N/A)
  22. Rayshaun Hammonds, F, Georgia (junior)
  23. Jalen Harris, G, Nevada (junior)
  24. Niven Hart, G, Fresno State (freshman)
  25. Nate Hinton, G/F, Houston (sophomore)
  26. Elijah Hughes, G/F, Syracuse (junior)
  27. Isaiah Joe, G, Arkansas (sophomore)
  28. Dakari Johnson, G, Cape Fear CC (freshman)
  29. C.J. Jones, G, Middle Tennessee (junior)
  30. Mason Jones, G, Arkansas (junior)
  31. Tre Jones, G, Duke (sophomore)
  32. Saben Lee, G, Vanderbilt (junior)
  33. Michael Lenoir, G, Creating Young Minds Academy (N/A)
  34. Kira Lewis, G, Alabama (sophomore)
  35. Nico Mannion, G, Arizona (freshman)
  36. Naji Marshall, F, Xavier (junior)
  37. Kenyon Martin Jr., F, IMG Academy (N/A)
  38. Tyrese Maxey, G, Kentucky (freshman)
  39. Jaden McDaniels, F, Washington (freshman)
  40. Isiaha Mike, F, SMU (junior)
  41. EJ Montgomery, F, Kentucky (sophomore)
  42. Aaron Nesmith, G, Vanderbilt (sophomore)
  43. Zeke Nnaji, F, Arizona (freshman)
  44. Jordan Nwora, F, Louisville (junior)
  45. Nikolaos Okekuoyen, C, Ridgeview Prep (N/A)
  46. Onyeka Okongwu, F/C, USC (freshman)
  47. Isaac Okoro, F, Auburn (freshman)
  48. Daniel Oturu, C, Minnesota (sophomore)
  49. Reggie Perry, F, Mississippi State (sophomore)
  50. Nate Pierre-Louis, G, Temple (junior)
  51. Immanuel Quickley, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
  52. Jahmi’us Ramsey, G, Texas Tech (freshman)
  53. Paul Reed, F, DePaul (junior)
  54. Nick Richards, F/C, Kentucky (junior)
  55. Jay Scrubb, G, John A. Logan College (sophomore)
  56. Jalen Smith, F, Maryland (sophomore)
  57. Cassius Stanley, G, Duke (freshman)
  58. Isaiah Stewart, F/C, Washington (freshman)
  59. Tyrell Terry, G, Stanford (freshman)
  60. Xavier Tillman, F/C, Michigan State (junior)
  61. Obi Toppin, F, Dayton (sophomore)
  62. Jordan Tucker, F, Butler (sophomore)
  63. Devin Vassell, G, Florida State (sophomore)
  64. Nick Weatherspoon, G, Mississippi State (junior)
  65. Kaleb Wesson, F/C, Ohio State (junior)
  66. Kahlil Whitney, F, Kentucky (freshman)
  67. Emmitt Williams, F, LSU (sophomore)
  68. Patrick Williams, F, Florida State (freshman)
  69. James Wiseman, C, Memphis (freshman)
  70. Robert Woodard II, F, Mississippi State (sophomore)
  71. Omer Yurtseven, C, Georgetown (junior)

International Players:

Note: The country indicates where the player had been playing, not necessarily where he was born.

  1. Deni Avdija, F, Israel (born 2001)
  2. Adrian Bogucki, C, Poland (born 2000)
  3. Leandro Bolmaro, F, Spain (born 2000)
  4. Imru Duke, F, Spain (born 1999)
  5. Paul Eboua, F, Italy (born 2000)
  6. Killian Hayes, G, Germany (born 2001)
  7. Vit Krejci, G, Spain (born 2000)
  8. Yam Madar, G, Israel (born 2000)
  9. Theo Maledon, G, France (born 2001)
  10. Karim Mane, G, Canada (born 2000)
  11. Aleksej Pokusevski, F, Greece (born 2001)
  12. Marko Simonovic, C, Serbia (born 1999)
  13. Mouhamed Thiam, C, France (born 2001)

The NBA’s list of early entrants includes one name that we had missed previously: Ridgeview Prep big man Nikolaos Okekuoyen. He wasn’t on the NBA’s list following the adjusted early entry deadline in August, so presumably the league determined after the fact that he got his paperwork completed on time.

Tony Goodwin II, Osas Ehigiator, Miguel Gonzalez, Sehmus Hazer, Arturs Kurucs, Caio Pacheco, Sander Raieste, Njegos Sikiras, Aboubacar Traore, and Uros Trifunovic are among the players withdrawing from the draft since our last check-in.

For details on which other prospects originally declared for the draft, then withdrew their names, be sure to check out our previous unofficial early entrant list.

Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0

Draft Notes: Maker, Petrusev, Ayayi, Trifunovic

April 25th, 2020 at 12:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Big man Makur Maker is declaring for the draft, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The 6’11” Maker was ruled eligible for the draft in February despite being two credits short of graduating with his original 2019 high school class in California. The younger cousin of Pistons center Thon Maker, Makur Maker is ranked No. 75 overall and No. 14 among center prospects by ESPN. Maker, a five-star recruit, attended Hillcrest Academy in Phoenix this winter.

We have more draft decisions:

  • Gonzaga big man Filip Petrusev has declared for the draft but hasn’t hired an agent, Matt Babcock of Babcock Hoops tweets. The 6’11” Serbian native started 33 games for the Bulldogs this season after coming off the bench as a freshman. He averaged 17.5 PPG and 7.9 RPG and scored in double digits in all but two games. He is ranked No. 60 overall and No. 12 among power forwards by ESPN.
  • Petrusev’s teammate Joel Ayayi is also declaring for the draft, Evan Daniels of 247 Sports tweets. Ayayi, a 6’5” sophomore guard, averaged 10.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG and 3.2 APG for Gonzaga this season.
  • Serbian wing Uros Trifunovic has declared for the draft, according to Sportando. The 6’6” Trifunovic, 19, played for Partizan Belgrade this season. In nine EuroCup games, he averaged 5.4 PPG in 13.2 MPG.
Retweet 3 Share 0 Send via email0