The NIL era is continuing to have a massive impact on college basketball.
The latest example was made clear on Monday as the NBA officially released a list of 71 early entrants into the 2026 NBA Draft. As noted by draft expert Jonathan Givony below, that’s down from 106 last year and drastically lower from a peak of 363 in 2021.
Givony also reports that this is the lowest total of early-entrants since 2003. Until 2006, high school prospects were still permitted to go directly to the NBA and skip college basketball entirely.
Proven college basketball players are set to earn significantly more money by staying in college than if they had been drafted in the 2nd round or signed as an undrafted free agent. In some cases, such as Florida‘s Thomas Haugh, players who likely would have been 1st-round picks have opted to return to college basketball rather than begin their professional careers.
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Of the 71 early-entrants, many of those players could still end up returning to college basketball in 2026-27 if they take steps to maintain their collegiate eligibility. Arkansas forward Billy Richmond is among the early-entrants who is testing the draft waters but could end up back in college basketball next year.
Here is the full list of early entrants into the 2026 NBA Draft:
The draft will be held from June 23-24 in Brooklyn. Here are the current odds on Kalshi for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft:
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
