It appears Jase Richardson has already made up his mind to head to the NBA, but should he be considering, even slightly, a return for a second year at Michigan State, he has until midnight to make that decision.
Wednesday is the final day for college eligible players to withdraw from the NBA draft; Richardson is one of those players. According to NBA rules, early entrants for the NBA draft have until 5 p.m. June 16 to withdraw. However, for college players, the deadline to withdraw and retain their college eligibility per NCAA rules is 11:59 p.m. on May 28. So that means Richardson has until late tonight to make a final decision.
Richardson starred for the Spartans in his lone season in college, averaging 12.1 points per game and shooting better than 40% from 3-point range. The first half of the season he primarily came off the bench as a key reserve, but he was inserted into the starting lineup for the final two months and quickly became the Spartans’ top player en route to a Big Ten championship and Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament.
Following the season, it was clear Richardson would enter the NBA draft; many projected him to be a lottery pick. Since the end of the season, his draft stock has fluctuated. In our NBA mock draft roundup last week, Richardson was listed as high as the No. 10 pick and as low as the No. 28 pick. One of the most recent NBA mock drafts I came across on Tuesday from Sports Illustrated has Richardson going No. 20 overall to the Miami Heat.
Despite the wide range, Richardson appears locked in as a first-round pick and could still end up among the lottery selections. So at this point, it seems highly unlikely he’ll withdraw his name from the NBA draft to return to Michigan State for another season.
We’ll be monitoring for any updates throughout the day to see if there is any Richardson news, but I presume he’ll continue with the NBA draft process and close the door on a return to Michigan State. Stay with Spartans Wire for updates and coverage on this topic as they present themselves.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: What will Jase Richardson do? NBA Draft decision needed by end of today
Reporting by Robert Bondy, Spartans Wire / Spartans Wire
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