The deadline for withdrawing from the NBA Draft was yesterday, and 108 players who had filed for the draft have withdrawn their names. I don’t know if this is a record.
Mike Nolan
Except for the lottery picks, there seems to be some value associated with the additional experience that NBA draftees receive in college. The challenges that the Warriors had this year with what they called a two track plan (compete for a championship and give their high draft choices an opportunity to play) were attributed at least in part to the fact few had any significant college experience.
NIL money likely has something to do with this too. The top lottery picks are making $40M. First rounders are making $5M. Second rounders are making $1.8M.
So there is a lot of incentive to spend another year in college, bank your NIL money, improve your draft status, and hopefully be better prepared to prove yourself in the G league if you don’t make the NBA team right away.
I have to wonder if the Griner incident has soured college players on playing in European leagues, especially in countries where the drug laws still have some teeth in them?