Despite briefly flirting with the NBA draft, rising junior guard James Blackmon Jr. will be returning next season, according to an IU athletics release.
Blackmon also briefly considered entering the draft last season before ultimately returning for his sophomore season and averaging 15.8 points a game in a season that was derailed after 13 games.
It was a couple days before IU’s first Big Ten game against Rutgers when it was announced Blackmon would miss the rest of the season after injuring his knee during a non-contact drill in practice.
Blackmon’s recovery has gone well, but he was unable to participate in the NBA combine or any individual workouts, instead simply meeting with teams to talk about what they like and did not like about how he played.
Blackmon is set to return to a team projected to rank at least top-15 nationally, even with the loss of starting forward junior Troy Williams.
The 6-foot-4 guard figures to have an even larger role next season with the departure of graduated point guard Yogi Ferrell.
Michael Hughes
