According to draftexpress.com, only 12 international players on the early entry list have chosen to stay in this year's NBA draft. Among them are two lottery projected players - wing Mario Hezonja (Croatia) and big man Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia), who has seen his stock rising lately.
The rest of the international players in the draft are projected to be taken in the second round or go undrafted. Centers Nikola Milutinov (Serbia) and Guillermo Hernangomez (Spain) might be early second-round picks, while small forward Cedi Osman (Turkey) and center Mouhammadou Jaiteh (France) are projected to go in the middle of the second round. Satnam Singh, the 7'2'' center, who can become the first NBA player born in India, stays in the draft too.
Many young players chose to withdraw
As many as 30 players have withdrawn from the draft. Only a few of them have been projected as possible draft picks, but forward Aleksandar Vesenkov (Bulgaria) who was a possible early second-round pick was one of the more NBA ready players, being the leading scorer in the Greek League at the age of 19.
Many others are still very young and a bit raw, such as point guard George de Paula (Brazil), born in 1996, and wing Timothe Luwawu (France), born in 1995, who were both projected to be drafted in the middle of the second round.
The same can be said for center Alpha Kaba (France), and shooting guard Marc Garcia (Spain), both born in 1996, and small forwards Nedim Buza (Bosnia) and Kevin Harley (France), both born in 1995. They were all projected middle to late second-round picks.
Two players' decisions were not known at the deadline - Ognjen Dobric (Serbia) and Juan Hernangomez (Spain). Hernangomez projects as a second-round pick.
Since international players become automatically eligible for selection at the age of 23, there are still several prospects in the draft besides the 12 remaining early entries.
