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Tiger guard Javonte Smart declares for NBA Draft

3 years 11 months 6 hours ago Monday, April 27 2020 Apr 27, 2020 April 27, 2020 4:05 PM April 27, 2020 in LSU Sports
Source: WBRZ - TV

BATON ROUGE - Just days after the NFL Draft wrapped up and 14 LSU Tigers were selected to play at the pro level, Tiger basketball guard Javonte Smart decided he too would test the professional draft process.

Smart declared that he would put his name into the NBA Draft process for the 2020 draft.  In a message on his Instagram page Smart said that he plans to declare for the Draft, but also maintain his eligibility to return to the LSU campus and continue his career as a Tiger.  

"I, along with my family, have decided to declare for the NBA draft to follow my dreams, while at the same time keeping my eligibility to return to school," the post said. "Thanks for all the love and support that has been given to me during my college experience."

The NBA allows for underclassmen to test the draft process by declaring and getting evaluations from professional team, and then return to campus if they feel like they could improve their NBA stock. 

Smart was a repeat winner of the Mr. Basketball award during his high school career at Scotlandville and last season he averaged 12.5 points per game and 4.1 assists per game.

Javonte started 30-of-31 games in the 2019-20 season posting 22 double figure scoring games.  While many lamented his turnovers early in the season Smart proved to be supremely efficient in the SEC as he had the best assists to turnover ration in the 18 league games at 2.1 assist-to-TO ratio.

Per the University, Smart had 25 assists and 26 turnovers in the first six games and 104 assists and 44 turnovers in the remaining 25 games.

The 2020 NBA Draft is scheduled for June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and underclassmen who declare have until June 3 to withdraw their names and return to college. 

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