With the 2024 NBA Draft nearing its deadline, the list of participants has been confirmed after allowing a fair chance of withdrawal from the draft. The young player to pull back his name on Wednesday was Coleman Hawkins, as confirmed by Shams Charania.
As per The Athletic Insider’s X (formerly known as Twitter) post, “Illinois’ Coleman Hawkins is withdrawing from the 2024 NBA Draft and will transfer to a new program, the forward tells @TheAthletic @Stadium. Hawkins is expected to be among the highest-paid NIL college basketball players and is using final year of eligibility for development.”
The Illinois forward will not be going back to his former college team, the Orange and Blue, but hasn’t opened up about his upcoming venture.
After Charania posted the news, fans were quick to drag LeBron James’ eldest son Bronny suggesting that the 19-year-old should take the same steps and take back his name because of his not-so-impressive statistics. Here’s what some of the hoop lovers said under the post.
A fan proposed, “Bronny should take some notes”.
Another fan seconding the opinion added, “bronny should do the same.”
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“Bronny might actually go in the lottery”, stated one fan on X.
Taking a dig at the Lakers great, someone wrote, “too bad his dad wasnt lebron james. I think at this point Klutch sports is now paying nba draft prospects to withdraw so Bronny has a higher chance in being drafted LOL.”
Thinking that Bronny took away Hawkins’ opportunity, a fan commented, “the poor kid is the youngest of 9 children. Bronny James is just taking up a spot at this point in the nba draft. He’s taking away a poor kid’s dream just so Lebron James can play with his son.”
Despite the NBA community advising Bronny to step back, it is confirmed that the guard is officially keeping his name in the upcoming draft.
Bronny James Officially Stays in NBA Draft
Following the withdrawal deadline, LeBron’s agent and Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul confirmed, “He’s (Bronny) staying in the draft.” Talking to ESPN regarding the prospect, Paul said “He’s a really good prospect who has a lot of room for growth.”
Though the USC guard had a disappointing season in college, averaging 4.8 points, 2.1 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting at 36.6% from the field, he impressed with his shooting skills in the NBA Draft Combine and is currently projected to be a second-round pick.
But in recent weeks, the interest has picked up as the Suns are looking to trade Bronny using their 22nd pick. Whether Bronny will land there or not is a massive question which will be answered on June 27.
Also Read: 5 NBA Teams Who Should Draft Bronny James and 5 Teams Who Should Stay Very Far Away
