The longer it goes without hearing something regarding Andrew Nembhard’s intent regarding the NBA Draft, the more likely it is that he’s planning on entering it. The deadline for players to declare is April 26 and with that date fast approaching and no word from him yet it’s seeming like his plan is to throw his name in the hat. Of course, with the new rules mandated in 2018 he reserves the right to withdraw his name from the draft and return to Florida, something that he’s already familiar with given the fact that he went through that exact process a year ago. In a normal offseason such as last, going through the draft process means going from city to city and working out in front of various teams’ front offices, going through drills and medical check ups while teams make evaluations. If a player is talented enough, he’ll get an invitation to the NBA Combine, the newly formed G-League Combine, or even the less popular but growing Professional Basketball Combine.
Of course, this year things are totally different.
The only contact made between players and teams will be over video chat, and the NBA has made it abundantly clear that it’s against the rules for teams to request players to work out live over the camera. That means that for players going through to process it’s essentially a Zoom interview process while teams pour over the film put together in the college season.
The lack of a traditional workout process might hurt a player like Nembhard whose intangibles are what makes him more sought after than something like eye popping highlights or incredible athleticism. Where he would thrive is in a typical workout scenario where he’s with 5 or 6 other point guards going through the same drills where he can showcase his advanced passing vision and basketball IQ and without that process it might be a bit less likely that a team will fall in love with him.
Considering it’s possible for players to enter the draft to then withdraw their name later it’s interesting that both Scottie Lewis and Keyontae Johnson chose to announce their return to Florida so early after the season ended. It would have been totally possible, and quite frankly reasonable for them to declare for the draft and then later make their announcement so their early communication that they were coming back to Gainesville was a bit unexpected. Also, entering the offseason it was Andrew Nembhard who was widely considered the most likely to return so him being the last player to hear from comes as somewhat of a surprise.
In addition to the COVID scenario shaking up the draft process there is another element that’s making the decisions of players like Nembhard a bit more confusing, and that’s the recent ruling of the NCAA to allow players to get in a relationship with agents as they go through the draft process. Up until a year ago signing with an agent would instantly void a player’s NCAA eligibility but they the sport’s governing body changed their minds to allow players to seek this sort of council—on the grounds that if they do decide to withdraw their name and return to college that the relationship between player and agent is terminated (which is obviously extremely unlikely, but you do you NCAA). For that reason it was expected that players like Nembhard would sign with an agent who would help them through the draft preparation process.
However, there is a snag.
You see, the NCAA doesn’t want players signing with just any agents, they want those agents to be NCAA certified. That means agents, to be eligible for the system where players can sign and then terminate the relationship to return to college, need to pass a series of guidelines laid out by the NCAA and then pass a test they administer.
Needless to say, that hasn’t exactly worked. NBA agents found their guidelines and testing to be a joke, and nearly every relevant NBA agent has abstained from getting involved. The list of agents certified by the NCAA reads barely longer than 10 names, and only 3 of them currently represent active NBA players. Are players rushing to be represented by agents without NBA experience? Predictably, no. This agent process that was supposed to help a player like Andrew Nembhard hasn’t worked at all the way the NCAA thought it would and for that reason the pre-draft process in the current climate has become even more difficult to navigate for prospective players.
Even with all this uncertainty it’s looking like the silence we’ve heard from Nembhard suggests he’s likely entering his name into the draft and we won’t know if he plans on going pro or returning to Florida for a few weeks. It’s worth noting that (according page 280, article X section 8 of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement) a player can only enter and withdraw for the draft multiple times as an underclassman. That means that it would be fine for Nembhard to enter and withdraw this year, his second time after doing it last summer, but the next time he enters the draft he’ll have to stay in. It’s likely that if he returns to Florida for his junior season that he’d leave afterwards to go pro so that shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s worth noting that a player can’t do the enter-and-withdraw maneuver after every season.
According to sources it’s not likely he’d be selected in this year’s draft and if you scan the prominent mock drafts of relevant analysts you aren’t going to see his name predicted to go. However, there would be professional opportunities for him in the G-League or overseas if he decided he was done with college so there is a chance he’s not just an NBA-or-bust guy. If you ask me he’s going to end up returning to Florida but in 2020 you can’t rule anything out. We should know more about his intentions by April 26th when the deadline to declare rolls around so keep an eye out for what he might do.