With the new rules put in place this season, it makes sense for most, if not all, good college players to put their name in the NBA draft. And that is exactly what Syracuse freshman Malachi Richardson did today.
Malachi announced his intensions to enter the NBA Draft, but he will not hire an agent, Syracuse athletics announced in a tweet this afternoon.
This move does not mean that Malachi is a goner, not yet at least. All it means is that Malachi will be able to go through the draft evaluation process. If he is determined to be a top 60 NBA prospect, Malachi will be invited to the draft combine taking place May 10-15 in Chicago. On top of that, he can go through team visits and hear feedback from NBA teams.
If Malachi gets the kind of feedback that he likes, he can keep his name in the draft. If he gets feedback that says he is a second round pick or will go undrafted, well, then Malachi has until May 25th to pull his name out of consideration.
With the new rules set up the way they are, it makes sense to at least “test the waters” and enter your name. That’s all Malachi is doing. If Richardson comes back, the Orange could be a top 25 preseason team. If not, it likely means that Malachi will be a first round pick– or at least thinks he will be.
