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30 of the best college prospects who won’t be declaring for 2021 NBA draft

A look at the big names you won’t see in this year’s draft.

As we approach the early entry deadline for the 2021 NBA draft, we have a sense of which players are set to return for another year of college basketball.

While scouts are more focused on the draft on July 29, evaluators around the league already have tabs on the best prospects that will continue their time in the NCAA next season.

Note that this list does not include notable names who have declared for the 2020 NBA draft but are just “testing the waters” like Isaiah Jackson, Miles McBride, Marcus Bagley, JT Thor, Matthew Mayer and Jason Preston.

Instead, the following players have either announced that they are returning or are expected to return to their team for the upcoming 2021-22 campaign:

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 2.0: Top prospects playing in March Madness

This includes some names to watch in the men’s tourney.

March Madness is set to begin, which means for college basketball fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. But it’s also one of the busiest times for scouts and executives around the NBA.

Last season, the men’s NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, which makes the stakes even higher for those involved in this year’s event. It will be a fascinating few weeks of basketball, all unfolding in Indiana, and the games are sure to further illuminate who may be most worth targeting in the 2021 NBA Draft.

But in addition to the spotlight of college basketball fully underway, we have now also seen the entirety of the 2021 G League season. That included the inaugural campaign for the Ignite, a pathway to the NBA for top talents who sought an alternative to the NCAA. Their exciting playoff run taught us more about prospects including Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga.

So with those results in mind, and with the college basketball postseason on the horizon, we have ranked the Top 100 prospects most likely set to make the jump to the NBA next season.

Our methodology for the rankings includes conversations with folks around the league, learning the general consensus surrounding a player, as well as a deep dive into stats and game film.

To put everything in perspective, we have also included everyone’s previous ranks from our last update, published on Jan. 22. This helps show whether a player is trending up or trending down and also helps illuminate how much can change in just two months of action.

As the madness begins during the men’s NCAA Tournament, follow along to see how these players are performing, as many will make a case to move up or down once the nets are cut on Apr. 5, 2021.

2021 NBA Draft Big Board 1.0: Who are the top players to know?

While the college basketball season has been strange, we have a more clear idea of which top prospects are expected in the 2021 NBA draft.

Unfortunately, putting together a big board at this point in the year is an incomplete task. The inaugural NBA G League Ignite team, a new developmental team that plays exhibitions and is meant to serve as an alternative to college for some players, has not yet begun their season.

That makes it impossible to track development for top prospects like Jonathan Kuminga and Jalen Green as well as potential risers like Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix.

While there are some honorable mentions included for some fringe prospects, several names (e.g. Duke’s DJ Steward, UNC’s Caleb Love, Texas Tech’s Terrence Shannon, Miami’s Earl Timberlake) were omitted on account of projected returns to the NCAA. As of right now, however, it is still a great challenge to predict who will be in this class.

The key to this draft is fluidity and being willing to accept that things will change quickly. Players will have slumps and some may be slow to adapt to the new normal. Rankings now are hardly reflective of where they will be as we get closer to March Madness.

Note that any conversations with NBA scouts mentioned in the article were held under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on behalf of their teams.

All relevant statistics are from BartTorvik.com, KenPom.com, Sports-Reference, RealGM and Synergy Sports Tech. Data is accurate as of January 22, 2021.

2021 aggregate NBA mock draft 2.0: How has the NCAA season changed rankings?

Now that the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball season is underway, we are getting a more clear picture of the top prospects in the upcoming class.

Former top recruits like Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs have made a great first impression and have confirmed why many already feel they are going to be solid future professionals in the NBA.

Of course, considering the unusual nature of the college basketball season, some players are struggling a bit more than others. The performance on the court will likely stray closer to the mean with a larger sample size as the year continues.

But to get a better sense of where everyone stands right now, we compiled mock drafts from ESPN, NBADraft.net, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, The Athletic and USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s For The Win to see where the prospects rank at the moment.

We highlighted the prospects who have been the biggest risers since we published our last edition of this exercise.

College basketball standouts who have most drastically improved their draft stock through the early parts of the season include Keon Johnson (Tennessee), James Bouknight (UCONN), Jared Butler (Baylor), Corey Kispert (Gonzaga), Day’Ron Sharpe (UNC), Aaron Henry (Michigan State), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois), Marcus Bagley (Arizona State), Moussa Cisse (Memphis), Charles Bassey (Western Kentucky), Jason Preston (Ohio) and Luka Garza (Iowa).

Below are the rankings based on the latest mock drafts from top analysts and experts:

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report