Indiana’s Justin Smith on NBA draft early entrant list

  • 04/29/2020 7:04 am in

Sunday was the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NBA draft and it appears at least one Hoosier is on the early entrant list.

Junior forward Justin Smith is on the NBA’s early entrant list for the draft, according to Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.

As a junior, the 6-foot-7 forward started all 32 of Indiana’s games and averaged 10.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 30.3 minutes per game. He shot 49.2 percent from the field, 67.3 percent from the free throw line and 26.3 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Smith, along with Al Durham Jr., also declared for the 2019 NBA draft before opting to return to school last spring. The junior from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, is not listed on any mock draft boards.

According to Givony, 205 players are on this year’s early entrant list for the draft, which is down from 233 in 2019 and 236 in 2018.

On Sunday, freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis announced on social media that he would be returning for his sophomore season in Bloomington.

The NCAA deadline to withdraw is June 3, but that date could be adjusted if the draft is moved to later in the summer, which is expected to happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the NBA has not officially released the early entrant list, other Big Ten players who have declared publicly include Maryland’s Jalen Smith, Minnesota’s Marcus Carr and Daniel Oturu, Michigan State’s Xavier Tillman and Aaron Henry, Iowa’s Luka Garza, Purdue’s Nojel Eastern, Michigan’s Isaiah Livers, Ohio State’s CJ Walker and Kaleb Wesson and Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu and big man Kofi Cockburn.

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