OSU junior forward Keita Bates-Diop will declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Neither OSU not Bates-Diop has confirmed the news, but a news conference is expected to happen sometime Monday.
It’s not clear whether Bates-Diop has hired an agent. If not, he could still withdraw his name from draft eligibility before May 30 and return for his final season with the Buckeyes.
He has been projected to go in the middle or late first round in several recent mock drafts.
Bates-Diop averaged 19.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game during the 2017-18 season.
He was named the Big Ten Conference Player Of The Year.
TheOzone will have updates on this story later today as more information becomes available.
Sources on ESPN: Ohio State junior forward Kieta Bates-Diop — Big 10 Conference player of the year — will enter the June NBA Draft. https://t.co/fLgntz9eDH
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 26, 2018