Each year I watch the list of underclassmen heading to the NBA draft. With the deadline coming up next Sunday, 58 underclassmen have declared, many of them permanently forfeiting their college eligibility.
Note that there are only 60 spots to be shared among all of the graduating seniors, international players and these underclassmen. But the numbers game is actually worse than it first appears: Of the 60 drafted each year, only a portion of those will achieve their dream of financial security in the NBA. Some will be sent to developmental leagues, traded, cut, injured or otherwise forgotten. After you factor in taxes, agents, and the brevity of the average NBA career, many will barely sniff the millions of dollars they've longed for.
So far two Jayhawks (Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry), four Kentucky Wildcats, and eight total from the Big XII are among those who have declared early. I understand Aldrich (and Wall and Cousins from Kentucky) but I just don't see what Henry gains by jumping now versus a year or two from now.
Hopefully a good chunk of the 58 underclassmen will pull out without hiring an agent and return to college basketball where they belong. But that's not likely.
Dates to watch:
April 25 - Deadline to declare
May 8 - Deadline to un-declare, as long as you haven't hired an agent
June 24 - NBA draft
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