The 2025 NBA Draft is less than a month away, and the deadline for players to keep their names in the draft or return to school for the 2025-26 college basketball season is on the horizon. Players have until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. ET to withdraw from the draft and maintain college eligibility under the NCAA deadline.
Some players have already made their intentions known well ahead of Wednesday’s deadline. Washington State star Cedric Coward — a projected first-round pick in next month’s draft — will never play a game for Duke after committing to the program out of the transfer portal. Coward has seen his draft stock soar in recent weeks after a standout performance at the NBA Draft Combine and will stay in the draft.
One of the surprises of the deadline came Tuesday when former UAB star Yaxel Lendeborg elected to bypass the draft to return to college for another season, where he will suit up for Michigan. Lendeborg ranks as the No. 1 player in the 247Sports transfer portal rankings and will play for coach Dusty May in Ann Arbor after withdrawing from the draft process on Tuesday.
Here is the latest on who’s staying in college and who’s chasing their NBA dreams.
Notable NBA Draft decisions yet to be made
Notable late NBA Draft decisions
Nate Bittle, Oregon
Big Board ranking: NR
Draft decision: Returning to Oregon
Bittle withdrew from the NBA Draft and will return to Oregon for his senior season. The 7-foot, 240-pound center is one of the elite stretch bigs in all of college basketball. He shot 40% from 3-point range in Big Ten play while notching the second-best block percentage in league play. Bittle was a Third Team…
..
