NBA Draft Early Entries 2019: Full List of Underclassmen Declarations

With the draft just around the corner, underclassmen have to decide if they should remain in the draft or go back to school. There are a few players who decided to go back to school who I think really should have stayed in the draft. This opportunity is a once in a lifetime chance, you always have the ability to go back to school and get your education.
But your basketball window is very small.
Here are two players who should have kept their name in the draft.

Jordan Nwora

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvkByPpgP-x/

Chris Mack was probably very pleased when he heard that Jordan Nwora was coming back to Louisville for his junior season. Nwora had a breakout season in 2018-2019 averaging 17 ppg, grabbing 7.6 rebounds and being a deadly shooter. He improved drastically from his freshman season where he averaged only 5.7 ppg and 2.2 rebounds. He also had his playing time increase by 20 minutes from his freshman year. Nwora was most likely going to float around in the second round and he could improve his stock by going back to Louisville. But there have been too many cases of players who can’t put up the same numbers or improve once they return to school. Example being former Maryland guard Melo Trimble, who after have a shocking freshman season and would have been a late first round early second round pick decided to go back to school. He never really improved his game and scouts were able to see the weakness in Trimble’s game. Plus the NBA always needs players like Nwora, a 6’8″ forward who can shoot the ball and also defend. I believe he should have stayed in the draft with this year being such a weak class overall.

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Killian Tillie

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByD3Bznnk7T/

Tillie is an all-around big who can do a little bit of everything on the offensive end of the floor and is one of the best players on a very good Gonzaga team. Although they are happy in Spokane that Tillie has decided to return to school he probably should have stayed in this years draft,. Mainly due to the fact that it is such a weak draft and Tillie was already projected to be a mid-second round pick. Probably the main reason Tillie decided to return to school is due to the injuries he suffered last season in which he only appeared in 15 games, but when he does play he is one of the best bigs in the country. I think by going back to school Tillie will only hurt his stock if there continue to be injury problems for him, teams will be less likely to take the risk of drafting a guy who is always hurt. If he stayed in the draft he would have had a great chance of being selected despite the injury problems due to the weakness of this particular draft.

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Kerry Blackshear Jr.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvajubMA20y/

Blackshear had a great year this past season at Virginia Tech where we averaged 14.9 ppg, 7.5 rebounds and improved as a three-point shooter. Blackshear became a go-to-guy for the Hokies after losing lead guard Justin Robinson to injury. During that period Blackshear really took over and dominated. He was able to show his versatility on the court being able to score down low, shoot the ball and create his own shot off the dribble. There is little to gain in his draft stock by going back to school unless he is able to show that he can really put up around 20 a game and be at an All-American level. Not only that but he is a graduate transfer and will look to pick a new school for the upcoming season after the departure of head coach Buzz Williams, who is now coaching at Texas A&M. Interesting decision by Blackshear to take his name out of the draft.
A full look at the early entries can be seen below.

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2019 NBA Draft Early Entries

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The following is the list of international players who have applied for early entry into the 2019 NBA Draft, via the NBA: