Mississippi State guard Malik Newman and Purdue power forward Caleb Swanigan will test the NBA Draft waters but won’t hire agents.
“I would like to announce that I am pursuing my dream of trying to play in the NBA,” Newman said. “I am keeping the option open that if I don’t hear the news I would like, I will be returning to Mississippi State next year.”
The 6-foot-4 Newman averaged 11.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
“I sat down with my family and we talked about it. We think that we will have a really good chance to make my dream come true,” Newman said. “I think with the development that coach [Ben] Howland helped me with and becoming the point guard this season, I think it could be really good.”
“This was the plan from the first day I met Malik,” Howland said. “We expected that he would put his name up for the draft and explore this opportunity this year. He has to really hit the ground running in terms of his workouts.”
Newman is on record saying he would have gone straight from high school to the NBA if there were no one-and-done rule. Once a projected lottery pick, he’s now projected as the No. 40 pick in 2016 by DraftExpress.com.
“It’s a mistake to stay in the draft,” one NBA executive told SNY.tv of Newman.
Meantime, the 6-9 Swanigan also announced he will test the waters. As of Tuesday, he was projected as the No. 25 pick in 2017 by DraftExpress.com.
He was named to the Big Ten’s All-Freshman Team after averaging 10.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in 34 contests this season. He won a league-best, three Big Ten Freshman of the Week (tied with Wisconsin’s Freshman of the Year Ethan Happ) accolades and was a finalist for the Wayman Tisdale Award given to the nation’s top freshman.
Beginning this year, the NCAA moved back the NBA Early Entry Eligibility Deadline until 10 days after the end of the NBA Combine. This year the Combine runs May 11-15, so the new deadline falls on May 25.
The new rules will allow college players to enter their names in the NBA Draft without risking future college eligibility. Once a player declares for the draft, he can participate in the NBA combine – if invited – and work out individually for NBA teams for feedback.
NMalik Newman will test the NBA Draft waters but won’t hire an agent, reports Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com.
