If Oscar goes undrafted, can he return to Kentucky?

[Lovebaskelball]

Question No. 1: Is a student-athlete allowed to enter the NBA Draft prior to exhausting NCAA eligibility4 (i.e., NBA early entry candidate) and subsequently return to school?

Answer: YES!

A student-athlete may enter a professional basketball league’s draft without jeopardizing his collegiate eligibility, provided:

a. He requests an evaluation from the NBA’s Undergraduate Advisory Committee before entering the draft;

b. He withdraws his name from the NBA Draft not later than 10 days after the conclusion of the NBA Draft combine;

c. He declares his intention to resume intercollegiate participation not later than 10 days after the conclusion of the NBA Draft combine. This declaration must be in writing to his director of athletics; and

d. He is not drafted by any team.5


5 Under NBA rules, an NBA team may not draft a player who withdraws his name from the NBA Draft in a timely fashion, provided such player has not previously withdrawn from the NBA Draft more than twice. If a player enters the NBA Draft for a third time as an Early Entry player, he is not permitted under NBA rules to withdraw from the Draft. Further, if he remains in the Draft and is not drafted by any team, he will be considered a free agent (eligible to sign with any NBA team at any time) under NBA rules and will not be allowed to enter another NBA Draft in the future.

 

[trueblujr2]

No bc he hired an agent - the category of agent that necessitates you forgo your remaining eligibility even if not drafted. Had he not hired one and gone undrafted, he could have returned.

No because there are deadlines for him to make that decision and that deadline has passed. If you go through the draft process, whether drafted or not, you're done as a collegiate athlete. Randolph Morris was an odd exception, and I think even most UK fans would even admit there was something a little fishy about how that all went down.

 

[UK_Born_an_Bread]

No because there are deadlines for him to make that decision and that deadline has passed. If you go through the draft process, whether drafted or not, you're done as a collegiate athlete. Randolph Morris was an odd exception, and I think even most UK fans would even admit there was something a little fishy about how that all went down.

You are patently wrong.
“Players can participate in the NBA Draft and still return to college

Now, here's another aspect that has changed. Players can go all the way through the NBA draft process. This means they can participate in draft day and if they aren't taken by a team in the draft, they are able to return to college. Of course, this is for early entrants that still have college eligibility left.

The one stipulation being, to do this, the player must have participated in the NBA Draft Combine.” - https://www.krem.com/amp/article/sp...cess/293-623aa5d3-7af3-482d-853a-61cf2ae6d7fa

 

[Lovebaskelball]

You are patently wrong.
“Players can participate in the NBA Draft and still return to college

Now, here's another aspect that has changed. Players can go all the way through the NBA draft process. This means they can participate in draft day and if they aren't taken by a team in the draft, they are able to return to college. Of course, this is for early entrants that still have college eligibility left.

The one stipulation being, to do this, the player must have participated in the NBA Draft Combine.” - https://www.krem.com/amp/article/sp...cess/293-623aa5d3-7af3-482d-853a-61cf2ae6d7fa

Nope, the article is wrong. The NCAA rule is pending the NBA CBA being changed so a team couldn't sign an undrafted player during the college basketball season and that didn't happen.

NBA draft flexibility​

College basketball players who request an Undergraduate Advisory Committee evaluation, participate in the NBA combine and aren’t drafted can return to school as long as they notify their athletics director of their intent by 5 p.m. the Monday after the draft.

This change is effective if/when the NBA and NBPA make an expected rule change, which would make undrafted student-athletes who return to college after the draft ineligible for the NBA until the end of the next college basketball season.

Here is the NCAA memo to teams concerning keeping draft eligibility.

https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/compliance/cbreform/2023CBR_NBADraftCombineAgentsWorkoutsMemo.pdf

 

[NociHTTP]

Would be nice to have a 14th or 15th scholly that are reserved for undrafted. With NIL and xfer portal now, I don't see why they wouldn't allow it. Let the coach decide if they wanna hold a slot or not.

We already have 7 or so open scholarships.

 

[Lempface]

We already have 7 or so open scholarships.

The statement was a general rule, not everything is related to UK bball's current situation.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

The NCAA wants to change the rule. However, the NBA has to change the CBA to agree not to sign an undrafted player until the next college basketball season ends.

Imagine if Kentucky has Oscar come back after going undrafted and in February a team signs him and leaves for the NBA.

Ah okay, that makes sense.