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The 2025 NBA Draft is right around the corner, and an elite group of prospects is hoping to hear their names called. However, there’s an interesting impact on the college basketball game illustrated in the final draft board.
According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, there have been just 106 early entrants into the draft this year. That comes in as the lowest number of early entrants in a decade, 2015 to be exact. The peak of early entrants checked in at over 360 just prior to the beginning of the NIL era.
The impact on the college game is undeniable and likely has a long-term impact as college athletics enters the era of revenue sharing. The elite one-and-done stars such as Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and Tre Johnson will undeniably persist, but the college game has seen a resurgence of veteran players, and this year was a great example.
Florida, the eventual national champion, was powered by Walter Clayton Jr., a star guard who returned for a 2nd year with the Gators. Johni Broome at Auburn and Mark Sears at Alabama were also former transfers who returned to their final school for multiple seasons. Even coming out of this past season, star March Madness performer Thomas Haugh bypassed the draft to return to Florida.
That kind of star power returning helps generate rivalries, something that existed for years throughout college basketball without player movement. With the transfer portal in full swing, NIL now exists to help retain stars even longer and formulate more intense matchups.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
