Joel Embiid has declared his intent to make himself available for the upcoming NBA draft. The Kansas center forgoes his remaining three years of collegiate play.
“He should be a real strong pick,” explains Breitbart Sports’ John Pudner. “I say he may be a poor man’s Anthony Davis.” Embiid averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks for Kansas this year. He displayed his real value to the team while on the bench. After his late-season injury, the Jayhawks, who departed the NCAA tournament after a second-round loss to Stanford, clearly were not the same team without the freshman on the floor.
Several mock drafts show Embiid selected at or near the top spot. “A freshman player’s value almost doubles between freshman and sophomore year,” Pudner, whose Value Add system ranks college players, explains. “He clearly would be one of the top players in the country if he would have come back.”
Kansas’s loss is the NBA’s gain–and Embiid’s. The first pick in the draft looks to earn about $5 million next season. It beats work study.
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