Duke fans welcomed Jabari Parker on his official visit this weekend with a sign that read, “Jabari Welcome Home” and chants of “Jabari Parker” from the Cameron Crazies.
(The photo was Tweeted by Mark Joseph Baden.)
The 6-foot-9 Parker — who lost his top spot in the 2013 recruiting rankings to Andrew Wiggins — recently cut his list to Duke, Michigan State, Florida, Stanford and BYU.
He has now visited Michigan State and Duke, with Florida (Nov. 2-4), Stanford (Nov. 9-11) and Brigham Young later in November all set up.
His father, Sonny Parker, has already said his son will not sign until the spring period.
“He’ll probably commit if he can’t sign on those days (in November),” Sonny Parker told the AP. “That’s what I’m hearing from him. And he’ll sign in the spring.”
But while Duke and Michigan State remain the perceived favorites, there remains the question of whether Parker will ever step foot on a college campus.
Because Parker may take his Mormon mission beginning next year, he could theoretically do his two-year mission beginning at age 18 and then head straight to the NBA two years later — perhaps for the 2015 NBA Draft.
Would he still be as attractive to the NBA at that point?
“Sure he would,” said one NBA Director of Scouting. “But he would unquestionably lose a bit of luster, having not played. But not playing for a year didn’t hurt [former Kentucky player Enes] Kanter that bad.”
After missing an entire year at Kentucky over eligibility issues, Kanter was the No. 3 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and averaged 4.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in his rookie season with the Utah Jazz.
