The 10 biggest NBA Draft stay or go decisions remaining before the deadline

At midnight on Wednesday, May 27, the college basketball offseason will hit one of its most notable mile-markers: The deadline for players to pull their name out of the NBA Draft.

Memorial Day weekend saw notable withdrawal decisions from Flory Bidunga (Louisville via Kansas), John Blackwell (Duke via Wisconsin) and Malachi Moreno (Kentucky). On Tuesday morning, Matt Able — who announced last month he was transferring from NC State to North Carolina if he didn’t stay in the draft — also declared that he would be putting his NBA dream on hold for at least another year.

A day before the deadline, here are the 10 other stay or go decisions that are going to have the largest impact on the 2026-27 men’s college basketball season:

1. Koa Peat, Arizona

Peat’s decision may be the most interesting of any of the players still in a state of flux. The 6’8 forward had a stellar freshman season, but struggled mightily at the NBA Draft Combine where he showed off a new shooting form that produced very bad shooting results.

Widely regarded as a projected lottery pick at the beginning of the 2025-26 season, Peat now pops up near the end of the first round in most mock drafts. A return to Tucson would greatly enhance Arizona’s chances of a return to the Final Four and a shot at the program’s first national title since 1997, but a return might be a tough adjustment for a blue chip recruit who has likely spent the past year maintaining the mindset of a one-and-done player.

Prediction: Stays in Draft

2. Christian Anderson, Texas Tech

Anderson’s potential as an NBA guard skyrocketed after an 18.5 point-per-game sophomore season at Texas Tech and a stellar showing at the Combine. SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell currently has Anderson projected to go to the Hawks with the 23rd overall pick. With All-American JT Toppin’s status for next season hampered by the torn ACL that ended his 2025-26 campaign, a surprise return to Lubbock by Anderson would be the best possible spring gift Grant McCasland could receive.

Prediction: Stays in Draft

3. Tounde Yessoufou, Baylor (Transfer Portal)

After a stellar freshman season for a not-so-stellar Baylor team, Yessoufou is projected as a late first/early second round pick should he choose to stay in the NBA Draft. With that being the case, a return to college — where he would undoubtedly make more money over the next year than he would as a professional — and a chance to be a part of a much less loaded 2027 draft class could be understandably appealing to Yessoufou.

Yessoufou has already put his name in the transfer portal, so taking his name out of the draft would instantly make him one of the most sought-after names in the country. UCLA, Arizona and a return to Baylor are the early favorites to be the most involved with Yessoufou should he become a college free agent.

Prediction: Stays in Draft

4. Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State (Transfer Portal)

Momcilovic’s situation is very similar to Yessoufou’s. If he stays in the draft, the best case scenario for Momcilovic is that he’s one of the last picks of the first round. If he returns to college, it’ll trigger an all out bidding war that will make him one of the highest paid players in the country in 2026-27.

Perhaps the best pure shooter in college basketball, Momcilovic’s most likely landing spot should he opt out of the NBA Draft is Kentucky, which is in desperate need of a scoring star for next season. Expect St. John’s and Louisville to also make runs at the 6’8 forward, who shot a scorching 48.7 percent from beyond the arc last season.

Prediction: Returns to College, signs with Kentucky

5. Allen Graves, Santa Clara (Transfer Portal)

The last of the “big three” potential college basketball free agents is Graves, who like Yessoufou and Momcilovic has already put his name in the transfer portal in the event that he returns to college. Unlike those other two players, Graves seems to have a chance to be a mid-first round pick should he opt to remain in the draft. Should he pull out, Duke and LSU are reportedly the two names most involved with the 6’9 Graves, who is the quintessential modern three and D player.

Prediction: Stays in Draft

6. Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt

There might not be a player on this list whose decision matters more to his college team than Tanner and Vanderbilt. With the 6-foot floor general — who came out of nowhere to average just under 20 points as a sophomore last season — it’s not hard to make the case for Vanderbilt as a preseason top 15 team. Without him, it becomes difficult to project the Commodores in the top 25.

Tanner is currently pegged as a late first round pick, and because of his size, it’s difficult to see him improving that stock a ton, even if he has a First Team All-American type junior season at Vandy. The question for Tanner is whether or not he wants to risk his current status to take a massive payday and return to Nashville for at least one more run.

Prediction: Returns to Vandy

7. Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois

It’s been widely assumed since the start of this process that Stojakovic would ultimately return to Illinois, but his complete silence over the last couple of weeks has more than a few Illini fans nervous. Stojakovic’s poor outside shooting last season and at the combine will almost certainly keep him from being a first round pick, but maybe that doesn’t matter as much to Peja’s kid as it matters to other prospects. With or without him, Brad Underwood likely has a preseason top five squad in Champaign. With him though, it’s tough not to have the Illini near the top of the shortlist for preseason national title favorites.

Prediction: Returns to Illinois

8. Amari Allen, Alabama

Allen stated before the NBA Draft Combine that he would return to Tuscaloosa if he didn’t receive a “first round promise.” It doesn’t sound like he did, but Allen is still expected to wait until deadline day to announce his decision. The 6’7 forward showed flashes of brilliance throughout a freshman season that saw him average 11.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

Prediction: Stays in Draft

9. Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State

The face of Michigan State basketball at the present time, Fears has a pretty straightforward decision: Stay in the draft and probably go late in the second round, or return to East Lansing and be a preseason All-American who is widely expected to lead the country in assists in 2026-27. This has all the feeling of Fears waiting until the last possible moment just to elicit the biggest possible reaction from the Michigan State fan base that adores him.

Prediction: Returns to Michigan State

10. Meleek Thomas and Billy Richmond, Arkansas

Yes, it’s cheating to include a pair of teammates as a dual entry, but whatever, we’re doing it. Of the two, Thomas is the one receiving more potential first round pick love, but both are receiving enough attention to make the next 24 hours beyond stressful for John Caliapri. While Richmond’s decision to test the waters was initially met with a lack of worry from Razorback fans, a strong performance at the combine and in some individual workouts has made the possibility of him staying in the draft much stronger than it was two months ago.

Prediction: Thomas stays in Draft, Richmond returns to Arkansas