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was told by a co-worker (Warriors fan) that Zion hasn't signed with an agent. He read/heard somewhere that Zion was so disappointed with potentially being drafted by New Orleans and that because he hasn't signed with an agent, he can return to school or sit out a year.
I personally don't think that would happen but I suppose it's not unreasonable to think it could.
Firstly, I do think it's unreasonable. In the literal sense: there are no reasons to think it WOULD happen. We have heard no good source tell us that Zion is unhappy. We've heard Zion say all year long he'll be happy to play wherever. He's from the South. He's guaranteed his shoe deal wherever he goes. Going back to Duke again would mean giving up all the possible earnings he could make from the time we hold his draft rights, which I believe would mean four years: he'd be giving up damn near $35m in order to NOT get paid at college.Originally Posted by HorneyTexan
The only reasons to think he is disappointed are these: he had a debatably happy face at the lottery.
That's it
Basketball.
LeBron's buddy Windhorst was attempting to seriously talk about this possibility on ESPN and Richard Jefferson was laughing at him and emphatically shaking his head "NO".
He's a kid. I entirely get that he might be disappointed. New York, L.A., and Atlanta were all realistic possibilities that he probably got excited about. The Pelicans franchise got dragged through the mud for like 3 months straight. He's never been to New Orleans. He probably has a distorted image of what the City is: flooded, swampy, disinterested in basketball.
Even if someone gets in his ear and gets him to consider this, you have to think Griffin is confident/competent enough to sell him on being the face of the franchise.
Contributor
This is why reporters like Colin Cowhead are irresponsible. This is almost libelous and hurts Zion's character. People say things, project and play armchair psychologists and say Zion looked upset we drafted him. Then big market slobberknockers say Zion should refuse to sign or go back to school.
And suddenly it's a "rumor" that Zion is unhappy. Absurdity.
I don't know any 18 year old kid who gets offered $8m and told he can be the face of a franchise who says no. I totally agree with you: maybe he's a little disappointed, maybe he did want to play in New York, but he's not going to turn down his first NBA contract as the number 1 pick and the face of a franchise to go earn diddly-squat in college out of spite. It's fine if he's a little disappointed, it's natural and nobody blames him: Paul Pierce wanted to be a Laker when he got drafted and he said he hated it when he got picked by Boston and his friends all made fun of him and stuff because he was from the West Coast and that rivalry was there. But once he actually got there, started cashing cheques and playing games, he stuck around for a long time. Retired jersey there.
We're not asking Zion to pledge to spend the next 20 years here, although we'd love it. We're just asking him to give us a shot, and I think he will do it.
Players just won't risk #1 money and all the attention that comes with it just to force themselves to a certain team. Can you imagine Zion sitting out an entire year.
All he needs to do is imagine you have a time machine and that the top three next year are New Orleans (with the Knicks' pick), Cleveland and Minnesota and ask him how he feels about going back into the draft next year. Those winters can't be that bad in Minneapolis.
The Ringer is writing about his now too, while acknowledging it is just pure speculation..
IMO, we might as well get use to the constant speculation about Zion wanting to play elsewhere from now until 2026.
Small market life.
Not just that, but he might end up on “the wrong team” in next year’s draft anyways. It would be a stupid gamble.
Such a move by Zion and large portion of the media would send immediate ripples across the NBA. It would in affect create a precedent where small market teams no longer even get the early years of a super star before they bolt to NY,LA Chicago or Boston. I think that there would be an internal revolt from an ownership perspective.
Late February end of March - “Zion shouldnt play another meaningless game in the NCAA save his body for the nba!”
— Ryan Hebert (@RyanHebert89) May 15, 2019
Those exact same people - “he should go back to school and pass on a years salary of 10 million dollars because New Orleans is the worst place on earth”
This is not happening. Here's why.
NCAA Rules have changed.
A player can return to college even if they hire an agent.
They can even go through the draft process and still return but are required to cut ties with the agent.
The catch is that if they are drafted they lose their remaining eligibility.
So, if he wanted to go back to Duke he would need to withdraw his name early and not participate in the draft.
If anyone thinks he would pass on being the first pick for any team they are out of their minds. There's too much risk for injury. Especially considering what happened last year.
Last edited by P_B_&_G; 05-15-2019 at 06:54 PM.
He hasn't been drafted yet.
HAHA, I know, I fixed it. I'm so pumped about it my brain cracked for a minute!
Sure, where can I find that ruling? Did a quick google but nothing came up immediately. Would clear up a few twitter arguments.
"A player who declares for the draft and stays in it loses his college eligibility when he is drafted. He can sign with any agent following an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee, and if he ends up undrafted, he has the opportunity to return to his school for at least another year only after terminating all agreements with that agent, effective with the 2019 draft;[29] until 2018, college players lost their eligibility when they signed with their agents and stayed in the draft, only to be left undrafted.[30] Before 2016, the NCAA only allowed a player to enter the draft once without losing eligibility,[27] but current NCAA rules now allow players to declare for and withdraw from multiple drafts while retaining college eligibility.[28] The CBA allows a player to withdraw twice.[25]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eligib..._the_NBA_draft
He hadn't been drafted yet.
He wasn't drafted yet dude. How do you not know this?!
That's only for if he actually goes through the draft though. If he were to withdraw, say, tomorrow, it wouldn't count, right?
Correct, he could withdraw early. But realistically, why would he?
Well, I don't think he would. But surely the argument the media is making is that he would rather withdraw and go back to Duke than play for New Orleans.
I think that's nonsense, but that's the view they're pushing.
This is when all that noise ends.
"The NCAA changed its withdrawal rule again in 2016, effective with that year's draft; its withdrawal deadline is now in late May, specifically 10 days after the final day of the annual NBA Draft Combine.[28]"
Well if he withdraws then we simply get Morant. Still not bad.
If Zion withdraws, what would be really funny is if we trade AD and one of the picks for him ends up being 1st next year.
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