More than 200 underclassmen declared for the NBA draft including four from LSU. So what's next now that the NBA postponed the combine and draft lottery?
Not much for college players.
The NCAA states that players have 10-days to return to school after the combine. That date is set for June 3rd, and there is no indication whether or not that will change with the potential to have no combine at all. Will Wade hit on this topic a bit Thursday during a virtual press conference.
The Bayou Bengals saw four players declare early, Emmitt Williams, Trendon Watford, Darius Days, and Javonte Smart. Combined with graduating senior Skylar Mays, LSU stands to lose as much as 83-percent of it's scoring from a year ago. Although it's unlikely all four LSU underclassmen actually leave. Still, the draft process can be good, and despite all the uncertainty Will Wade said it was good for players to test the waters.
"Even the interviews are beneficial. They show film, they ask you questions," Wade said. "They'll show you film and say 'what are you doing?' 'You look lazy here. You don't look in shape here. Why are you tired here?' That can be jarring for players who hear that and see that for the first time and see what the people at that level are looking for and the attention to detail."
In recent years, LSU has had good success with players coming back from the draft process as better players, look no further than Tremont Waters who came back in 2019 and was the SEC defensive player of the year.
What remains a mystery still is how the NBA's draft eligibility deadline will work. The NBA says players have up until 10-days prior to the draft to withdraw their name and retain future draft eligibility, a rule the generally effects international players since the NCAA has it's own set of rules. A pushed back draft, and potentially later start date to the NBA season could complicate things.
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