Memphis star freshman and top NBA Draft prospect James Wiseman has been officially declared ineligible, and has withdrawn his lawsuit against the NCAA in the hopes of reaching a resolution on his status moving forward.
Memphis was initially informed that Wiseman was “likely ineligible” last week, but he was able to continue playing after a county judge granted an injunction.
The NCAA ruled Wiseman ineligible after discovering that Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, who is considered a booster, gave the Wiseman family $11,500 in 2017 to help with moving expenses. After the move, Wiseman played for the high school team that was coached by Hardaway at the time. Memphis East High School could potentially be stripped of the state championship Wiseman helped win.
On Thursday, Memphis announced that Wiseman’s lawsuit has been withdrawn, and that Wiseman will apply for reinstatement. Wiseman will be allowed to practice, but will be held out of games.
ESPN’s Jay Bilas broke down the situation and explained what comes next for Wiseman and Memphis.
“There have been discussions between Memphis and the NCAA about Wiseman’s status, but the NCAA told Wiseman’s attorneys, and I assume told Memphis, that it would not reach a resolution of Wiseman’s status while a lawsuit was pending. So Wiseman decided to withdraw the lawsuit – and there could be a couple of reasons for that.
One, it could be that the lawsuit was withdrawn just so that they could begin the process of doing this, and the NCAA could very well have threatened that they would open up a separate infractions case on Memphis for for playing an ineligible player.
It could also be that the two parties, Memphis and the NCAA, had reached a wink and a nod agreement as to how this would shake out if they were to withdraw the lawsuit, declare him ineligible, and then seek reinstatement… The ball is back in the NCAA’s court where they get to do it, essentially, their way.”
WHEN COULD WISEMAN RETURN?
If Memphis and the NCAA are able to reach a resolution quickly – which isn’t a given – Wiseman should be back by midseason.
“He will be able to play again. $11,500 from a booster would normally be, according to the matrix the NCAA uses, a third of the season, or nine games. Maybe it’ll be shorter than that, maybe it’ll be the whole nine, I don’t know where that’s going to shake out.
Ultimately, what it means for James Wiseman after this year when he goes to the NBA Draft is zero. The NBA doesn’t care about any of this stuff, so it’s not going to affect his draft status or his future at all.”
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