Florida’s Jalen Hudson, John Egbunu set to declare for 2018 NBA Draft

Basketball

1

Image Credit: ESPN Images

As if Florida Gators basketball was not already losing enough players due to graduation, the program learned Tuesday that two more potential 2018-19 starters are departing to try their hands at the professional ranks.

Redshirt junior guard Jalen Hudson has declared for the 2018 NBA Draft. According to ESPN‘s Jeff Goodman, Hudson will not be hiring an agent at this time.

In doing so, Hudson has the option to remove his name from the draft and retain his collegiate eligibility should he make that decision on or before May 30, 10 days after the NBA Draft Combine. In the interim, he can begin attending team workouts once the NBA releases its complete list of early entrants in late April.

God’s plan.†

A post shared by Jalen Hudson (@hudszn) on Mar 27, 2018 at 5:18pm PDT

Hudson averaged 15.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 26.6 per minutes per game for the Gators in 2017-18, his lone active season with the program after sitting out a transfer year following two seasons with Virginia Tech. He has one year of collegiate eligibility remaining should he return to school.

Redshirt senior center John Egbunu announced Tuesday on Instagram that he has decided to leave school and pursue a professional career. He will surely enter his name in the NBA Draft, though after tearing his ACL on Feb. 14, 2017, and missing the last year-plus recovering from the injury, he’s a longshot to be selected in the two-round draft.

Egbunu would have needed to apply for a medical hardship waiver in order to gain a sixth year of eligibility. Like Hudson, he transferred into UF from another program after beginning his career at South Florida. Following his mandatory year off per NCAA rules, Egbunu averaged 9.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over his final two active seasons at Florida.

Should Hudson remain in the NBA Draft, the Gators will lose three starters from the 2017-18 season as senior point guard Chris Chiozza and graduate transfer G Egor Koulechov have both exhausted their eligibility. Egbunu likely would have started for Florida last season if he had been healthy.