Arkansas sophomore forward/center Jaylin Williams announced this week that he’ll test the NBA draft waters this spring, entering the 2022 draft pool while maintaining his college eligibility, as Curtis Wilkerson of HawgSports.com details.
A reserve for most of his freshman year, Williams entered the starting lineup for the Razorbacks in 2021-22, filling up the box score with 10.9 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, and 1.1 BPG in 37 games (31.6 MPG). While he only made 46.1% of his shots from the field, including 23.9% from three, Williams made the All-SEC First Team and SEC All-Defensive team. He’s currently the No. 45 prospect on ESPN’s big board.
Williams’ teammate, Arkansas senior shooting guard Au’Diese Toney, is also entering the 2022 NBA draft, he announced on Instagram. Toney’s announcement doesn’t say anything about maintaining his final year of NCAA eligibility, so it sounds like he intends to go pro after averaging 10.5 PPG and 5.2 RPG in 36 games (32.4 MPG) for Arkansas following three seasons at Pitt.
Here are a few more players who recently declared for the draft or announced they intend to:
Expected to remain in draft and forgo remaining NCAA eligibility:
- Luka Brajkovic, F, Davidson (senior) (Twitter link via Jon Chepkevich)
- Justin Minaya, G/F, Providence (senior) (Instagram link)
- Anthony Polite, G/F, Florida State (senior) (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports)
- Tariq Silver, G, Austin Peay (senior) (Twitter link)
- Malachi Smith, G, Chattanooga (junior) (Twitter link)
Testing draft waters:
- Emmanuel Akot, G/F, Boise State (senior) (Twitter link)
- Theo Akwuba, C, Louisiana (senior) (Twitter link)
- Yuri Collins, G, Saint Louis (junior) (Twitter link)
- Jaiden Delaire, F, Stanford (senior) (link via Joe Tipton of On3.com)
- Daylen Kountz, G, Northern Colorado (senior) (Twitter link)
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