The deadline for college players to remove their names from the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft expired on Aug. 3. — and it was a good day for Will Wade’s LSU Tigers as three of his stars returned to Baton Rouge.
Trendon Watford, Javonte Smart and Darius Days all decided to return to LSU for the 2020-21 college hoops season.
However, two former LSU players — guard Skylar Mays and Emmitt Williams — both remain in the draft, which is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16.
Rookie Wire recently compiled a big board of the NBA Draft’s top 100 players after the deadline and the two former LSU stars made the list.
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Mays, of course, was a four-year starter for the Tigers whose eligibility expired at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. He averaged 16.7 points per game for LSU last season and finished a stellar career with over 1,600 points scored.
Mays was ranked No. 46 by Rookie Wire, who had this to say about him.
Skylar Mays averaged 16.7 points with 5.0 rebounds per game this season. He led LSU to finish among the top five offenses in Division I, according to KenPom. He is a solid 3-and-D prospect who connected on 1.6 shots from beyond the arc per game while also forcing 1.8 steals per game.
Williams. who had two years of eligibility remaining, was one of Wade’s first big recruits at LSU. A five-star forward from Lehigh Acres, Fla., the 6-foot-6 Williams was ranked No. 73 by Rookie Wire.
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Emmitt Williams won MVP at the Jordan Brand Classic in 2018, scoring 44 points on 22-of-23 attempts. He averaged 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds as a sophomore and averaged 1.26 points per possession as the roll man in pick-and-roll sets, which ranked among the top 10 of Division I players who had as many opportunities.
Williams took a major leap from his freshman season to his sophomore campaign, almost doubling his scoring average.
With the draft still over two months away, both former Tigers still have an opportunity to climb up boards. The lack of a normal pre-draft process could favor a player like Mays who has four years of experience and film.
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