KU junior Svi Mykhailiuk invited to NBA combine

By Matt Tait     Apr 29, 2017

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (10) heads in for a bucket past TCU guard Kenrich Williams (34) during the first half, Thursday, March 9, 2017 at Sprint Center.

Kansas junior Svi Mykhailiuk recently received word that he had been invited to participate in this year’s NBA combine, May 9-14 in Chicago.

The news, which KU coach Bill Self said was expected, is merely the next step in Mykhailiuk’s quest to gather information about his stock and status for this summer’s NBA Draft, June 22 in New York.

Self told the Journal-World earlier this week that Mykhailiuk had gone through the steps with the underclassman pre-draft advisory committee and gained valuable information from that.

While Mykhailiuk has spent most of the past month working out in preparation for his NBA workouts, the next step is to meet with and compete in front of actual NBA scouts and general managers at the combine to see if the information he received from the pre-draft advisory committee either holds up or changes.

Self said the opportunity to talk directly with NBA GMs would be the biggest advantage for Mykhailiuk at the combine but he also will be able to battle with other draft hopefuls in live-game settings and a variety of skill-related drills.

Mykhailiuk still has not hired an agent, which keeps open the possibility of him returning to Kansas for his senior season.

He will have 10 days from the end of the combine to decide whether to pull his name out of the draft pool and return to school or stay in and leave early, which puts the next date to watch for significant news in Mykhailiuk’s draft-testing process in the May 15-24 range.

Josh Jackson and Frank Mason III, two former Jayhawks who definitely will be staying in the draft, also received invitations to this year’s combine in Chicago.

Mason, whose national-player-of-the-year season sent him surging up draft boards from not listed to late second-round, seems to be the biggest winner of the KU trio. The opportunity for Mason to show his skills, work ethic and attitude to the entire league gives him a much better chance of getting drafted.

Jackson, meanwhile, remains locked in as a projected Top 3 pick and, with an impressive combine showing, still could be in play for the No. 1 overall selection.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.