It lasted long into Wednesday night — and then carried over to Thursday afternoon — but the most-anticipated NBA draft decision in Kentucky basketball circles leading up to this year’s deadline finally ended up going the way the Wildcats wanted. Not only will Jaxson Robinson return to college, but he’s already committed to UK. The 6-foot-7 guard from Ada, Oklahoma, was BYU’s leading scorer this past season under head coach Mark Pope, who left Provo last month to take over the Wildcats’ program. Robinson removed his name from NBA consideration ahead of the 11:59 p.m. draft deadline Wednesday night, though that decision was not confirmed until early Thursday afternoon, more than 12 hours after the deadline had passed.
Along with that confirmation, Robinson told ESPN that he has committed to play for Kentucky next season, pushing Pope’s first UK roster to 12 scholarship players. The 21-year-old averaged 14.2 points per game at BYU in 2023-24 and will have one season of NCAA eligibility remaining. ESPN ranks him as the No. 17 transfer in the country, and his commitment is likely to vault Kentucky onto national top-25 lists in the coming days.
Robinson was far from the only big name to reveal his future plans. While some who were still in the draft pool at the beginning of the week — such as Kentucky transfer commitments Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams — were foregone conclusions to return to college, and others — like Bronny James — were clearly going to stay in the draft, several players were truly undecided heading into deadline day. Here’s a look at the biggest decisions in the final hours leading up to the draft deadline.
