Many teams in the NBA are looking forward to the 2015 NBA Draft in June. While there are a number of exciting and intriguing prospects, the clear-cut top pick right now would be Duke center Jahlil Okafor.
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Basically every team, including the Los Angeles Lakers, have Okafor atop their respective draft board. However, according to Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times, Okafor isn’t opposed to staying at Duke past his freshman season:
I know I’ll be in position to live my dream in the NBA or live my dream and stay here at Duke with people who truly love me,” he said. “I totally feel comfortable with staying here in college, and my family wouldn’t care one bit as long as I’m happy. They know how much I love being here.”
Okafor may very well be comfortable at Duke, but it would be extremely shocking if he remained there after this season since he is almost guaranteed to be the top pick barring some catastrophic injury.
In the last two years, that has happened as both Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid suffered injuries. Despite that, both men decided to enter the draft with Noel dropping to sixth in 2013, while Embiid was selected third in 2014.
Okafor will surely weigh all of his options at the conclusion of the season, but remaining in college would surely throw a wrench into the draft plans of many teams. If he does stay, point guards Emmanuel Mudiay and D’Angelo Russell, as well as big man Karl-Anthony Towns would be the top candidates for the first pick.
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