Should the Wizards be Concerned with Low NBA Draft Entrant Count?

The NBA announced that 106 draft prospects have filed as candidates for the summer's upcoming draft, just ahead of Saturday's early entrant deadline, providing those players with just over a month to duck out and use more of their available eligibility should they so choose.

That 106 player total is paltry by modern standards, with ESPN's Jonathan Givony reporting that that figure is the lowest since 2015, a significant downturn from the 300+ the league was receiving just before NCAA's NIL licensing agreement officially kicked in a few years ago.

That won't be the final applicant count, as older or unproven collegiate and overseas athletes without as much remaining eligibility or credentials have more time to declare, but this is a sizable indicator of the presence of NIL, making money for players without them having to turn pro and rush their development process.

Fans of the draft-focused Washington Wizards might see this and ask, How does this factor into the team's summer plans to build through freshly acquired prospects?

This certainly shortens the amount of names that the team would otherwise have to thumb through, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Players getting more time to polish their games means that the players declaring themselves ready for the big leagues will be more prepared than usual.

This Wizards will have a lot of homework ahead of them, armed with three picks that could range all over the draft. They have a top-six protected first-rounder that they earned on their own with their 18-64 record, as well as #18 from the Memphis Grizzlies and the Phoenix Suns' unprotected second-rounder.

The prospect pool thinning out means that the Washington front office has less clutter to sift through, and a potentially more talented crop to evaluate. Their scouting toward the bottom will go a long way in making those deeper-cut picks count, but it won't be until May 12th's draft lottery draw when they can fully put a plan into place.

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