Hamidou Diallo says skipping college for 2017 NBA Draft is real option

It looks like Hamidou Diallo skipping college is a very real possibility.

The five-star shooting guard told Scout.com's Evan Daniels that he is considering entering the 2017 NBA Draft, as he is eligible to do so after graduating high school this year.

"It’s definitely something that I’m going to look into," Diallo said when asked about the draft. "It’s my ultimate goal, and I don’t feel like it would hurt me looking into. But as of now I want to go to college."

Diallo also said he'll bypass their early signing period, so this recruitment will go into the spring. Whether Diallo goes to college or not remains a different discussion, but it looks like this recruitment is going to drag out longer than originally anticipated.

Taking the Thon Maker route to the NBA is something that has been bantered about, though seeing Diallo continue to say it's something he'll consider makes his recruitment a very tricky one for the schools involved. Diallo is one of the Kentucky Wildcats' top targets in the Class of 2017, not to mention their No. 1 shooting guard target.

The 6-5, 195-pound guard is ranked by 247 as their No. 9 overall prospect in 2017. The 247 Crystal Ball still has UK as the favorite, but the last four predictions have been non-UK.

Arizona, Syracuse, and UConn are pushing for Diallo, perhaps even harder now that it appears UK is letting up a little bit with the uncertainty Diallo will even play in college. I still think John Calipari will push hard for Diallo, but guys like Lonnie Walker and John Petty may be put ahead of Diallo on UK's big board if Cal thinks Diallo has a decent shot at skipping college.