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According to the Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel, Indiana guard James Blackmon Jr. will enter his name in this year’s NBA Draft, but will not retain the services of an agent – meaning that unless he is drafted (or, more unlikely, signed as an undrafted free agent), he will retain his amateur status and remain eligible to return to IU for his senior season.
Blackmon led the 2016-17 Hoosiers in several statistical categories, including points per game (17.0), three-point field goals (91), and minutes per game (30.5). He bounced back, for the most part, from an injury-shortened 2015-16 campaign to play well, but he probably didn’t show enough to get picked up by an NBA team quite yet; I can’t find a mock draft that has him included.
But he can still return to Indiana, and one of new coach Archie Miller’s hallmarks – defense – happens also to be one of Blackmon’s weaknesses as a player, so it’s certainly possible that if he doesn’t get drafted, a year of working with Miller could greatly improve Blackmon’s draft stock. Playing for a winning team wouldn’t hurt, either.