Jeff Goodman didn’t hold back Tuesday night. The longtime college basketball insider went on X and named names after three players who kept their names in the NBA draft despite having college eligibility left went unpicked in the first round. All of them had agents who told them to stay in.
Isaiah Evans from Duke, Henri Veesaar of North Carolina, and Arkansas’s Meleek Thomas all watched the first round from home without hearing their names called. Goodman pointed out that Evans and Veesaar are represented by Wasserman agents Thad Foucher and Jason Ranne respectively. Thomas is with Sam Permut of Roc Nation.
Goodman didn’t stop there. He brought up RJ Luis, who also had Permut as his agent, stayed in the draft a year ago, went undrafted, and then turned down a ton of money to try to return to college. Luis eventually signed a two-way deal but now wants to go back to school anyway. It’s a mess.
This whole thing has become a pattern. Players and their agents get too optimistic about where they’ll actually get picked. They hear a few nice things from scouts or a promise of a workout and suddenly think they’re a lock for the second round. Then draft night rolls around and they’re sitting there with no team and no college eligibility left to fall back on.
College eligibility rules have tightened up in recent years, which makes this gamble even riskier. Once you declare and hire an agent, that’s usually it. You can’t just change your mind and go back to school like nothing happened. Some players have tried and it’s caused all kinds of controversy.
Evans, Veesaar, and Thomas still have a shot in the second round on Wednesday. The draft continues and maybe one of them gets picked. But the fact that they were sitting there watching 30 names go by without hearing their own has to sting. Especially when they could have been back on campus working on their game for another year.
There are success stories of undrafted players who made it in the NBA. But those guys are the exception, not the rule. For every undrafted player who carves out a career, there are dozens who disappear. Agents are supposed to know the difference between real interest and wishful thinking. This year’s first round suggests some of them don’t.
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