What is the Professional Basketball Combine?

We all know about the NBA Draft combine and now the new G-League combine. We know guys like PJ Washington, Tyler Herro, and Keldon Johnson were invited to the NBA combine, and EJ Montgomery was not invited to either combine.

So, where do the other players that declared do if they’re not invited to either?

This season, there will be a third combine held for only 24 invited players called the Professional Basketball Combine. This combine was started in 2017, but has gained much more attention for this upcoming combine season, announcing players such as Corey Davis Jr. from Houston, KeVaughn Allen from Florida, Kenny Williams from UNC, and Kentucky grad-transfer target Kerry Blackshear Jr. from Virginia Tech.

This combine is to give the un-invited players a chance to showcase their skills for NBA scouts, and is mainly used for two-way NBA contract that we see used a lot in the league. Kentucky’s own Wenyen Gabriel is on a two-way contract for the Sacramento Kings.

The combine was originally held at IMG Academy in Florida for the previous two years, but this year they have partnered with Mamba Sports Academy in Southern California. In the two years that the combine has been going on, nine players have landed two-way NBA contracts, showing that there is always an alternative to getting to the league.

And on the topic of Kerry Blackshear, it is seeming more and more likely that he will be staying in and turning pro rather than grad-transfer and coming back for another college season. It seems that he just does not want another year of school and it’s hard to blame him.

But Jeff Goodman of Watch Stadium says that Blackshear returning to Virginia Tech is not totally out of the realm of possibility should he return to school.

If Blackshear does come back to school, however, I would put Kentucky as the favorites to land him rather than returning to Virginia Tech for another season. Texas A&M is also a player for him with the hiring of his former coach Buzz Williams.

What do you think Blackshear ultimately does?