University of Kansas senior-to-be Ochai Agbaji has officially received an invite to the NBA’s pre-draft combine in Chicago.
The seven-day event, which begins next Monday, is the next big step that figures to factor into Agbaji’s decision to stay in the NBA draft pool or return to Kansas for the 2021-22 college basketball season.
Representatives from all 30 NBA teams last weekend submitted to the league lists of around 70 players that they wanted to see invited to the combine.
Jayhawks Jalen Wilson and Remy Martin, a transfer from Arizona State, did not receive an invite to the combine. Wilson, however, was invited to the NBA G League Elite Camp, which runs June 19-21, also in Chicago.
He will be joined at the Elite Camp by former Jayhawk guard Marcus Garrett. A select number of the top performers at that event are expected to be invited to the combine.
Both events will provide players with the opportunity to conduct interviews with NBA teams and participate in five-on-five games as well as shooting, strength and agility drives in front of pro scouts and NBA executives.
The games will be televised by ESPN2 on June 24 and ESPNU on June 25 from 2-6 p.m. each day.
According to NBA.com, 69 players were invited to this year’s combine, down from the 105 players invited to participate in the virtual version of last year’s combine, which, like this year’s event, was held later than usual because of the pandemic. Most years, the combine is in mid-May and the draft is slated for late June. This year’s draft is scheduled for July 29.
All players who declared for the draft have until July 7 to pull their name out of the draft pool in time to return to school.
Other notable names on this year’s combine list include: Houston’s Quentin Grimes, Duke’s Matthew Hurt, Villanova’s Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and recent Big 12 standouts Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell and Matthew Mayer, of Baylor, Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves, West Virginia’s Miles McBride and Texas Longhorns Greg Brown III, Jericho Sims and Kai Jones.
While their performances at the combine will play a big role in their decisions for the underclassmen on the list, players also still can travel to NBA cities to go through individual workouts with teams following the combine.
KU has scholarships available for all three players who are eligible to return should they elect to pull their names out of the NBA draft pool.
Of the four players mentioned above, only Garrett has routinely shown up on recent mock drafts. The 6-foot-5 guard from Dallas has been slotted as a late second-round pick in two of the most popular mock drafts.