UPDATE:
Joel Embiid tweets that he’s still deciding whether to enter the 2014 NBA Draft despite the earlier report from Wojnarowski. Embiid’s mentor, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of the Timberwolves — who hails from Embiid’s native Cameroon — also says that Embiid is still weighing his options about his future.
@humblekid11 haven't made a decision yet
— Joel-Hans Embiid (@jojo_embiid) March 27, 2014
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From Joel Embiid's mentor, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. RT @mbahamoute:
@WojYahooNBA joel has not yet made a decision!
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) March 27, 2014
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EARLIER:
Freshman Kansas center Joel Embiid will enter the 2014 NBA Draft, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. The 7-footer burst onto the scene this season challenging Jayhawks teammate Andrew Wiggins and Duke’s Jabari Parker as possible No. 1 overall selections in this June’s Draft.
Woj says a more formal annoucment should come soon and, “In the past week, Embiid has progressed in settling on agent representation, but no final decision has been made, sources said.”
Wiggins has said all along that he’d enter the NBA Draft after one season, but earlier this year Embiid — who came off the bench in the first eight games this year for Kansas — appeared undecided. Duke’s Jabari Parker still hasn’t announced if he’s declaring for the draft either. Draft Express ranks Embiid No. 2 for this summer’s Draft, and ESPN’s Chad Ford has him at No. 3.
Embiid’s lone season at Kansas ended prematurely when he was scratched for the final two regular season games, the Big 12 Tournament and the first two games of the NCAA Tournament after suffering a stress fracture in his back. Kansas was eliminated in the Tourney by Stanford this past Sunday, after being one of the favorites for the Final Four before Embiid went down.
Kansas contends that Embiid would have been able to play if the Jayhawks had made the Sweet 16, but that never happened. You can be sure NBA teams will be poking and prodding Embiid’s back and overall health before making a decision on whether to draft him.
Embiid is a native of Cameroon, who came over to the U.S. to play prep school basketball in Florida at 16 years old — having never played the game before. But he’s shown flashes of becoming a possible franchise center in the NBA with dominating stretches on both offense and defense while averaging 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 23 minutes a game for Kansas this season.
(Yahoo)
Should Embiid get drafted No. 1 overall?
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