Report: NCAA Sets August 3 as Last Date to Pull Name From NBA Draft, How Does it Affect LSU Basketball?
On Thursday, the NBA finally released its plan for the upcoming NBA draft lottery and set an NBA draft date as well. The lottery will be held Aug. 25 with the draft to follow nearly two months later on Oct. 15.
With that updated information, the NCAA was also allowed to reorganize it's timeline of when prospective college draft prospects would be allowed to pull their names from the draft process.
Shams Charania of the Athletic reported Thursday afternoon that the NCAA said "draft prospects have until 10 days after the NBA draft combine or Aug. 3, whichever comes first, to withdraw from the postponed 2020 draft."
For LSU, four underclassmen declared for the 2020 draft with only one, Emmitt Williams deciding not to keep his NCAA eligibility. Freshman forward Trendon Watford and sophomores Javonte Smart and Darius Days all entered their names but left the option of coming back to school open.
Coach Will Wade said one of the three was more "50/50" but that he felt comfortable with where each of the player’s heads were in regards to the draft. Neither Smart, Days or Watford have been through the draft process before and should Wade be able to convince a combination of the three to return to school, it'd add fuel to an inferno of talent for the Tigers 2020 squad.
"We have a good idea of who's coming back, we've got one guy that's closer to 50/50 so we're not sure exactly what's going to happen with him but we'll be at 13 scholarships by the time classes start, which is where we need to be," Wade said.
"We're hopeful that he'll be back and really position himself to be the premier point guard in the SEC and one of the premier point guards nationally," Wade said of Smart in a teleconference. "He's a big guard who can get in that paint and finish, make floaters, make pull ups and distribute the ball.
Watford is the only player that has popped up on many draft boards, appearing in the Athletic's top-100 board at No. 56 alongside senior Skylar Mays, who's long been projected to be a second round pick.
The roster remains unsettled from a recruiting standpoint as Wade and company continue to search for another big to add to the 2020 class. The hot name floating around at the moment is center Moussa Cisse, who reclassified from the 2021 to the 2020 class and is set to make his decision sometime this week.
Add Cisse to the already stacked recruiting class and potentially one or two underclassmen returning, and Wade has the makings for his most successful team since arriving to Baton Rouge.
