Which top 2019 basketball recruits put their names in the NBA Draft? Here’s a breakdown.
The NBA released the official list of underclassmen who have declared for this year’s draft this week, and it’s a long one.
In total, 205 such players — 163 from colleges and other educational institutions, and 42 international players — put their names in the draft, which will include only 60 picks. That sounds like a lot of early entries, and it is, but it’s actually down from the past two years — when 233 such players declared in 2019 and 236 did so in 2018.
How do those numbers correlate with the recruiting class of 2019? Most of the top-ranked prospects from this season’s freshman class are likely to be gone from college basketball by next season, even if some of their on-court performances didn’t exactly scream, “NBA draft pick.”
Only nine of the top 25 players in the 2019 class — according to the 247Sports composite rankings — have committed to coming back to school for next season. And just one of the top 10 prospects in that group will be playing college ball in 2020-21. In all, 27 players who were college freshmen this past season have entered the draft, in addition to former five-star recruits RJ Hampton and LaMelo Ball, who skipped college altogether to play professionally.
The list of freshman early entries features some likely lottery picks, of course, but it also includes a few players who are not projected to get drafted at all.
Let’s break it down.
Leaving school
James Wiseman — the No. 1 recruit in the 2019 class — played just three games at Memphis before accepting a 12-game suspension and then deciding to leave school to train up to the 2020 draft. His experience pretty much sums up the class of 2019’s impact on college basketball this past season: it was a group that was struck by injuries, top prospects on bad teams, defections to the pros, and a few players who ended up not playing at all.
Wiseman is still No. 3 on ESPN’s latest list of the Top 100 prospects for this year’s draft. That list is led by Georgia’s Anthony Edwards (No. 2 recruit), with LaMelo Ball at No. 2, and three more class of 2019 standouts — Auburn’s Isaac Okoro, Southern Cal’s Onyeka Okongwu, and RJ Hampton — all in the top 10. Ball (the No. 23 recruit), Okoro (No. 36) and Okungwu (No. 25) were all well-regarded high school recruits, but not top 10 prospects this time last year.
ESPN’s rankings include nine more class of 2019 recruits in first-round range: Cole Anthony (No. 11), Precious Achiuwa (No. 12), Tyrese Maxey (No. 13), Nico Mannion (No. 14), Jaden McDaniels (No. 16), Patrick Williams (No. 19), Josh Green (No. 21), Jahmi’us Ramsey (No. 23), Isaiah Stewart (No. 26) and Vernon Carey (No. 28).
That’s a total of 16 players from the class of 2019 projected to be among the top 30 picks. All nine of the top 10 recruits who have declared for the draft from the class fall into that category. Others a little further down the list might have a tougher time on draft night.
Former Kentucky forward Kahlil Whitney was the No. 11 player in the class and left the Wildcats’ team in January following a decrease in playing time. Despite a disappointing freshman campaign, Whitney put his name in the draft. ESPN has him ranked as the No. 74 prospect.
Louisiana State forward Trendon Watford, the No. 18 recruit in the class, is at No. 72 on ESPN’s list. Florida point guard Tre Mann, the No. 21 recruit in the class, averaged just 5.3 points per game in a reserve role, surprisingly declared for the draft, and is completely absent from ESPN’s list.
Players who placed their names in the draft have until June 3 to withdraw and retain college eligibility — according to the NBA’s current pre-draft schedule, which could be pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic — but many are expected to stay in. (Of the 175 college underclassmen who entered last year’s draft, 86 — almost exactly half — kept their names in).
Who’s coming back?
The only top 10 national recruit from the 2019 class who has said he’s coming back to school for a sophomore season is Florida’s Scottie Lewis, a longtime Kentucky target. Lewis averaged 8.5 and 3.6 rebounds per game as a freshman. He has said he thinks he needs at least one more year in college to better prepare himself for a professional career. Lewis will be just the sixth top 10 recruit over the past five classes to play more than one season of college basketball, joining Ivan Rabb, Malik Newman, Charles Bassey, EJ Montgomery and Quentin Grimes. (Newman and Grimes both transferred from their original schools after one year).
ESPN projects Lewis as the No. 23 pick in its (very early) NBA mock draft for 2021.
The other eight players who were ranked as top 25 recruits and will be coming back to school are Duke’s Matthew Hurt (No. 12), Oregon’s N’Faly Dante (No. 14), Villanova’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Bryan Antoine (Nos. 16 and 17), Louisville’s Samuell Willamson (No. 19), USC’s Isaiah Mobley (No. 20), Tennessee’s Josiah Jordan-James (No. 22) and Kentucky’s Keion Brooks (No. 24).
None of those eight players are projected by ESPN as first-round picks next year, though several are in second-round range: Robinson-Earl (No. 33), Hurt (No. 34), Williamson (No. 41) and Jordan-James (No. 52).
To illustrate how much those early projections value potential, none of the first 16 picks in the 2021 mock draft are players who were in college basketball this season. Fifteen of those picks — starting with Oklahoma State signee Cade Cunningham at No. 1 — played high school ball this past season, and the other is international prospect Usman Garuba. (UK signees Brandon Boston and Terrence Clarke are both on the list, too).
The top college returnee in that mock draft is Kentucky native David Johnson, who will return to Louisville for his sophomore season and is projected as the No. 17 pick in next year’s draft.
Other notable returnees among class of 2019 recruits include Memphis forward DJ Jeffries, who is the only player to decommit from Kentucky during the John Calipari era and projects as the No. 51 pick in next year’s draft; and West Virginia center Oscar Tshiebwe, who was a UK recruiting target and is listed as the No. 50 pick in ESPN’s 2021 mock draft.
