EAST LANSING -- Jaren Jackson Jr., Miles Bridges and Nick Ward all decided after the season to declare for the 2018 NBA Draft as early entrants.
Now, their paths start to diverge a bit.
A reported list of invitees sent to all 30 NBA teams was published last week by Yahoo! Included were two of Michigan State's three early entrants: Jackson and Bridges. Not included was Ward, who has not hired an agent and as a result can still withdraw from the draft and return to school.
That means the three could all have different experiences with the highest profile pre-draft event, to be held next week in Chicago.
At an autograph signing last week, Jackson seemed unsure about his plans for the combine, consulting a representative from his agency when asked if he would attend.
Jackson eventually said he does plan to attend the event. How much he does on the court, though, is a question. Players projected to go in the top five, as Jackson is, often limit their on-court activities, seeing little to gain in terms of draft stock. Instead, they save their on-court activities for private workouts with teams who have picks near the top of the draft.
Bridges hasn't given an indication about his players for the combine. But he falls into a range where most players undergo physical testing in an attempt to move up the draft boards. Bridges, who has always had standout athleticism, could put up strong numbers in running and jumping tests and move up from his current mid-first-round projection.
Both will likely also go through interviews with teams while in Chicago, and could attend the draft lottery next Tuesday.
Ward, on the other hand, will now have to overcome some long odds to hear his name picked in the draft.
The NBA changed its rules in 2016 to allow players to withdraw their names from the draft if they haven't hired an agent. An overview of the past two NBA combine lists shows that 177 college players declared early for the draft in 2016 and 2017 but did not receive a combine invite. Of those, 130 opted to return to school.
Forty-seven, meanwhile, still stayed in the draft with an agent. Of those, none were drafted. The only college players drafted in the last two years after not being invited to the draft were graduating seniors.
Ward still has more than three weeks go before he has to make a final decision on staying in school or turning pro next year, on May 30. During that time, he can still participate in workouts with individual teams and get feedback from them to gauge his draft odds. He can also get feedback from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee, a group of NBA executives who provide a projection of a prospect's likely draft position.
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