Guard James Blackmon Jr., who has just completed his junior year, appears to be done at IU after a report was released Sunday morning indicating he would hire an agent ahead of the NBA Draft.
Blackmon had previously entered his name into the NBA Draft, but had not hired an agent.
Saturday, according to Blackmon’s Twitter, he participated in undergraduate commencement. However, Blackmon was not on a list of IU athletes eligible to graduate in May or August released by the University in a press release.
According to a Sunday morning report by Jon Rothstein, writing for FanRag Sports, Blackmon will hire an agent and remain in the NBA Draft. This report was confirmed by CBS Sports. However, according to IU basketball spokesperson JD Campbell, Blackmon has not yet made a final decision.
Blackmon averaged 17.0 points per game last season and led the team with 91 made three-pointers. He was named to the Third Team All-Big Ten by the media and was one of 10 finalists for the Jerry West Award, which is given to the best shooting guard in the country.
In his three seasons at IU, Blackmon shot 41.5-percent from three and currently ranks 31st on the all-time scoring list for IU.
Several former players have hired agents for the draft after this academic year. Sophomore forward OG Anunoby was the first Hoosier to sign with an agent, and a few weeks later sophomore Thomas Bryant joined him in signing.
Junior guard Rob Johnson also has entered the draft, but has not signed with an agent. Once a player signs with an agent, he is ineligible to return to school.
Two weeks ago, IU Coach Archie Miller said he was prepared for those players to test the NBA waters.
“I think all four guys now that the semester’s getting ready to end are all getting ready to dive into the NBA process, which is all of them have received feedback from the advisory committee,” Miller said in a press conference two weeks ago. “They all understand where they’re at.”
Neither Blackmon nor Johnson was invited to the NBA Combine.
Blackmon participated in spring workouts with the team and Miller had effusive praise for Blackmon.
“James Blackmon’s probably the best shooter I’ve ever been around, just in terms of what we were able to accomplish with him in three weeks and watching him workout in our framework and watching him shoot and do some of the things that he did, and looking at his numbers,” Miller said. “Probably best numbers I’ve seen in my time doing some of the stuff that we were doing.”
