National Basketball Association

Diallo announces he will return to play for Kentucky

Published May. 25, 2017 5:19 a.m. ET

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Kentucky freshman guard Hamidou Diallo has withdrawn from the NBA draft and will return to school to begin playing with the Wildcats.

The 6-foot-5 New York native enrolled in January but didn't play in order to learn the college game and focus on school with the intention of playing next season. Diallo entered the NBA draft last month and participated in the recent combine, but said in a statement early Thursday that ''it's in my best interests to return to school. ... I can't wait to play in a Kentucky jersey for the first time.''

Diallo will return to play with another highly-touted recruiting class that includes Quade Green, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jarred Vanderbilt. The group has big voids to fill with Kentucky losing five underclassmen to the draft along with three graduating seniors.