\n AARON BEARD
\nAP Basketball Writer\n <\/p>\n
Will Wade’s work building N.C. State into an immediate winner included the pursuit of an entrant in the NBA draft, just in case he returned to college.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t a huge risk: With all the cash flowing in college, the number of early entrants to the NBA draft has continued to shrink. This year’s draft starts Wednesday night with its lowest total of those prospects in at least 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow you can play the long game a little bit more,\u201d Wade told The Associated Press, referring to how college players can look at their futures. \u201cLook, I can get paid the same I would get paid in the G League, the same I would get paid on a two-way (contract), some guys are getting first-round money.”<\/p>\n
And more money is on the way.<\/p>\n
It’s been four years since college athletes were permitted to profit off the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), opening the door for athlete compensation that was once forbidden by NCAA rules. July 1 marks the official start of revenue sharing where schools can begin directly paying athletes following the $2.8 billion House antitrust settlement.<\/p>\n
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For Wade, that led to signing Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams after 247sports\u2019 fifth-ranked transfer withdrew from the draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically now if you\u2019re an early entry and you\u2019re not a top-20, top-22 pick \u2014 where the money slots \u2014 you can pretty much make that in college,\u201d the new Wolfpack coach said.<\/p>\n
It’s all part of a seismic change that has rippled through college athletics since the pandemic, its impact touching the NBA. Players willing to \u201ctest the waters\u201d in the draft before returning to school now have a lucrative option to consider against uncertain pro prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the money that\u2019s being thrown around in NIL, you\u2019re having a lot less players put their names in,\u201d Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said. \u201cYou\u2019re having pretty good players pulling their names out.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year’s drop is significant compared to the years before anyone heard of COVID-19. There was a spike of college players jumping into the draft in the pandemic’s aftermath, when they were granted a free eligibility year to temporarily make even a fourth-year senior an \u201cearly\u201d entrant.<\/p>\n
But those numbers fell as those five-year players cycled out of college basketball, and they’re now below pre-pandemic levels. That decline coincides with NIL\u2019s July 2021 arrival, from athletes doing paid appearances or social-media endorsements to boosters forming collectives offering NIL packages amounting to de facto salaries.<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Eighty-two players appeared on the NBA’s list of early entrants primarily from American colleges with a smattering of other teams, down 49% from 2024 (162) and nearly 47% compared to the four-year average from 2016-19 (153.5);<\/p>\n
\u2022 Thirty-two remained after withdrawal deadlines, down from 62 last year and 72.0 from 2016-19;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Adding international prospects, 109 players declared for the draft, down from 201 last year and 205.0 from 2016-19;<\/p>\n
Duke coach Jon Scheyer understands draft dynamics, both for no-doubt headliners and prospects facing less clarity. He sees college athlete compensation as a \u201clegitimate gamechanger.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully it allows players to decide what\u2019s truly best for their game,\u201d Scheyer told the AP. \u201cIt allows them to analyze: \u2018Am I actually ready for this or not?\u2019 Where money doesn\u2019t have to be the deciding factor. Because if money\u2019s the deciding factor, that\u2019s why you see kids not stick. The NBA\u2019s cutthroat. It just is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Devils are expected to have three players selected in the first-round Wednesday, including presumptive No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg alongside top-10 prospects Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach. They also had players sorting through draft decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no substituting the money you\u2019re going to make if you\u2019re a top-15, top-20 pick,\u201d said Scheyer, entering Year 4 as successor to retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. \u201cBut if you\u2019re not solidified as a first-round pick, why risk it when you can have a solid year and a chance to go up or be in the same position the following season?\u201d<\/p>\n
Langdon, himself a former Duke first-rounder, sees that evolution, too.<\/p>\n
His Pistons had their first playoff appearance since 2019, but lack a first-round selection and own a single pick in Thursday\u2019s second round. Fewer candidates could make the already imperfect science of drafting even trickier in this new reality.<\/p>\n
According to the NBA\u2019s 2024-25 rookie scale, a player going midway through the first round would make roughly $3.5 million in first-year salary. That figure would drop to about $2.8 million at pick No. 20, $2.3 million at No. 25 and $2.1 million with the 30th and final first-round draftee.<\/p>\n
A minimum first-year NBA salary? Roughly $1.2 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese NIL packages are starting to get up to $3 to $4 to $5 to $6 million dollars,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cThese guys are not going to put their name in to be the 25th pick, or even the 18th pick. They are going to go back to school in hopes of being a lottery pick next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indiana Pacers big man Thomas Bryant and Oklahoma City Thunder counterpart Isaiah Hartenstein, who both played in the seven-game NBA Finals that ended Sunday, illustrate Langdon\u2019s point.<\/p>\n
They were back-to-back second-rounders in 2017 (Bryant at 42, Hartenstein at 43), pushed down a draft board featuring early-entry college players in 33 of the 41 picks before them.<\/p>\n
Bryant played two college seasons at Indiana before stints with five NBA teams, including Denver\u2019s 2023 championship squad. Would the ability to make college money have changed his journey?<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I see it from both sides,” Bryant said. “If you\u2019re not going to get drafted, you understand that a kid needs money to live in college and everything. So, I understand where they\u2019re coming from on that end.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me, I took the chance. I bet on myself, and I believed in myself, and I worked to the very end. And the thing about me is that if I went down, I was going down swinging. I hang my hat on that. For some, it might not be the same case.”<\/p>\n
The American-born Hartenstein moved to Germany at 11 and played in Lithuania before being drafted. As he put it: \u201cI think everyone\u2019s journey is different.\u201d<\/p>\n
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