As expected, Donovan Mitchell has received an invitation to the 2017 NBA Draft combine. This according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Guys that haven’t signed with agents who have been invited to Draft Combine: Tony Bradley, Frank Jackson, Kyle Kuzma and Donovan Mitchell.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 29, 2017
Mitchell, along with teammates Deng Adel and Jaylen Johnson, declared himself eligible for the draft late last month. Of those three, Johnson is the only one who has signed with an agent and declared that he will not be returning to school.
Mitchell was the quintessential breakout sophomore star this year. He upped all his averages after spending most of his freshman season as a role player, and after an especially strong performance during conference play, wound up being named First Team All-ACC. That increase in production, plus Mitchell's off-the chart athleticism, has understandably caught the eye of more than a few NBA scouts and executives.
Still, Mitchell is one of the players that mack drafters have seemed to have the most difficulty placing.
"Donovan's problem is that this is a very strong draft, and it's especially strong at the point guard position, which is where he'll play the next level," Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said last month. "If Donovan gets picked late in the first round when he could have come back and played himself into a position where he could be picked ninth or 12th next year, then he will have cost himself millions of dollars. Now if he goes through this process and he's being projected somewhere between 13th and 20th, then it's something that we'll have to sit down and have a conversation about."
The complete list of invitees has not been released to the public yet. The combine will take place in Chicago from May 9th – May 14th.