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The offseason is here, and with it will come several life-changing decisions around Kentucky Basketball.
That’s because many players are going to test the NBA Draft waters and decide if they’re ready for life in the pros, or if they need another year in college before making the jump.
On Monday, John Calipari held his final call-in show of the season, where he spoke about the NBA decisions many of his players have to make. Calipari expects most of the roster to declare for the draft and go through the testing process, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be gone for good.
On upcoming decisions for his players: "I haven't met with any of them yet. I'll probably do that before I go to the Final Four on Thursday." Cal expects many of them to test the process but doesn't mean they're going. Notes the new process of testing the waters.
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 26, 2018
Right now, it looks like Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo are likely to leave for the NBA, so the could declare and hire agents very soon.
Then you’ve got Jarred Vanderbilt who is probably testing the waters, but he looks like more of a 50-50 call at this point. He may just declare and go through the testing before making a decision in May on whether to return or go pro.
There’s also the potential for guys like PJ Washington and Wenyen Gabriel to test the waters. anyone else that does so is probably going to just remove their name from the draft rather quickly. Nick Richards, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Quade Green simply aren’t anywhere close to being ready for the pros.
Be sure to see who James thinks stays and who goes pro. I’m leaning toward three players going pro and the rest returning for next season.