Oklahoma star Trae Young captivated the college basketball cosmos in his freshman campaign. After his performance faded down the stretch of the season, however, some speculated that he would consider returning to Oklahoma for one more NCAA go-round. His father told Yahoo!’s Pat Forde that he would like Trae to consider coming back to college.
That is not going to happen. Trae Young is bound for June’s NBA Draft, as ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The Sooner also delivered to ESPN an as-told-to essay about his decision.
Scouts consider the 6-foot-2 guard a lottery pick with boom-or-bust potential. ESPN’s Jonathon Givony currently has Young slotted in at No. 9.
Young, 19, averaged 27.4 points and 8.7 assists in his lone NCAA season. He led the country in both categories and could win the Naismith Award for Player of the Year.
Young set the Big 12’s freshman scoring record, surpassing current NBA standouts Kevin Durant (Texas) and Michael Beasley (Kansas State).
The Sooners jumped to a 14-2 start and cracked the top echelon of the NCAA’s top-25 poll (once reaching No. 4), but they collapsed as the season wore on. Young struggled to get free as teams keyed in on stopping him and played physical defense against him. Oklahoma crept into the NCAA Tournament as a 10 seed but suffered a dramatic overtime loss to Dan Hurley’s Rhode Island squad in the first round.
Young was a highly heralded recruit after averaging 42.6 points per game his senior season. He chose to stick with his hometown Oklahoma squad. He has drawn many comparisons to Golden State’s Stephen Curry. Young has range akin to that of Curry, but scouts have concerns about his frame, defensive ability, and shot selection — many of the same concerns they had about Curry, who fell to No. 7 in the 2009 NBA Draft. Minnesota selected two point guards, Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio, immediately before the Warriors snagged Curry, who has blossomed into a two-time MVP.
