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Hamidou Diallo may be leaving for the NBA Draft, but he’s not ready to make an official announcement.
Early Friday morning, Jon Rothstein reported that Diallo was declaring for the draft and signing with an agent. That’s been the expectation all along, and anything else would be a major shock.
However, Diallo’s mentor, Rob Diaz, told Adam Zagoria that a final decision has not been made, and one isn’t expected to come sometime next week.
Rob Diaz, Hami Diallo’s mentor, on report he’s turning pro: ‘No the family and I will be meeting with him next week to make a decision on what’s he feels is best for him. Anything else out as of now is just a rumor.’
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) April 13, 2018
The deadline to declare for the draft is April 22, so if Diallo is playing the deadline game again, that’s when a final decision will come by.
Diallo, a redshirt freshman, started in all 37 of games this past season and averaged 10 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 42.8 percent from the field, including 33.8 percent from deep.
Assuming he goes, Diallo would be the fourth UK player to enter his name in this year’s draft and the third to make the decision final. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Kevin Knox have already declared for the draft and signed with agents. PJ Washington has declared but not signed with an agent, giving him the option to return for his sophomore season at UK.
Again, it would be a major shock if Diallo isn’t in the draft this year, and I doubt Rothstein put this out there unless it wasn’t happening.
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