Potential first-round pick, 17 others withdraw from NBA Draft
Eighteen early-entry candidates have withdrawn their names from the NBA Draft, the league announced Tuesday. Of the 18, only one was an American college player — South Alabama's Mychal Ammons, who will return to school.
Kristaps Porzingis, an 18-year-old from Latvia who plays in Spain, was the most notable of those who withdrew. Porzingis has commonly been projected as a late first-round draft pick, and ESPN reported he received a promise from the Oklahoma City Thunder that they would use one of their first-round picks on him. The Thunder have the No. 21 and No. 29 picks in the draft.
Forty-four collegiate and 13 international early-entry candidates remain for the draft, which will be held June 26 in Brooklyn, NY.
Here is the complete list of players who withdrew from the draft:
Mychal Ammons, South Alabama
Eleftherios Bochoridis, Aris (Greece)
Mat'as Bortolin, Regatas Corrientes (Argentina)
Nedim Buza, Spars Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Berkay Candan, TED Kolejliler (Turkey)
Joonas Caven, Joventut (Spain)
Moussa Diagne, Fuenlabrada (Spain)
Tomas Dimsa, Zalgiris (Lithuania)
Marcus Eriksson, Manresa (Spain)
Ilja Gromovs, Ventspils (Latvia)
Rasmus Larsen, Manresa (Spain)
Mateusz Ponitka, Oostende (Belgium)
Kristaps Porzingis, Cajasol (Spain)
Marko Ramljak, Zadar (Croatia)
Alejandro Suarez, Joventut (Spain)
Devon Van Oostrum, Vitoria (Spain)
Guillem Vives, Joventut (Spain)
Adin Vrabac, Spars Sarajevo (Bosnia)
