Louisville Basketball: Donovan Mitchell hires agent, will remain in 2017 NBA Draft
By Taylor Sturm
Louisville Cardinals’ leading scorer from 2016-17 Donovan Mitchell has hired an agent and will officially stay in the 2017 NBA Draft. Can Louisville still be the best team in college basketball without him?
The 2017 NBA Draft is a little over a month away, and players are starting to officially declare whether or not they will return to school for another season or try their luck at the professional level.
One of these players is the Louisville Cardinals’ Donovan Mitchell, who has hired an agent and will head off to the NBA.
Mitchell, who led the Cardinals in scoring in 2016-17, averaged 15.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, 2.7 assists per game, and 2.1 steals per game last season. A 6’3, 200-pound sophomore guard, Mitchell is expected to be a late first-round selection, meaning he could find himself on a playoff team in his first pro season.
Louisville will be disappointed not to see a player of his talent return to the roster next season but should be fine.
Louisville was the clear choice to be next year's Preseason number one if everyone came back. Whole new ballgame now given its departures.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 5, 2017
Remember, Mitchell might be gone, but the Cardinals still have a top 10 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. If there is one thing certain about Rick Pitino’s Louisville teams, it is that they will somehow find a way to succeed no matter the roster or the losses from the previous season.
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Expect this team to start out a bit slowly next season, but find themselves cruising to a place in the 2018 NCAA Tournament and competing at the top of the ACC.