NEWS: James Nnaji, the No. 31 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, has enrolled at Baylor, agents Gerard Raventos and Deirunas Visockas of Gersh Sports told DraftExpress.
A monumental development: a former NBA draft pick is immediately eligible to play college basketball this season. pic.twitter.com/8S9aK6MWR3
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) December 24, 2025
The college basketball landscape is changing dramatically with many former pros enrolling in colleges, but James Nnaji just fully reset the market.
Nnaji, a 7-footer from Nigeria with a 7-foot-7 wingspan, previously played for Barcelona in the EuroLeague for several seasons.
He was considered one of the top prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft and was eventually selected at No. 31 overall by the Detroit Pistons, who traded him to the Charlotte Hornets, and was later traded to the New York Knicks as part of the deal for Karl-Anthony Towns.
As a draft-and-stash big man, he played for BÃ squet Girona in Spain and then Merkezefendi in Turkey. However, he shocked the basketball world on Wednesday afternoon when fans learned he had committed to play for the Baylor Bears.
Nnaji has already played NBA Summer League for both the Hornets and the Knicks.
While he was reportedly granted four years of collegiate eligibility, New York already own his rights and he is not draft eligible.
But he will bolster a Baylor frontcourt playing without the injured big men Juslin Bodo Bodo and Maikcol Perez. Nnaji is an immediate contributor for a team with two potential first-round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft with Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou.
The NCAA already has multiple former G League players on collegiate rosters, including Thierry Darlan as well as Abdullah Ahmed and London Johnson, but an actual draft pick is uncharted waters.