Auburn center Dylan Cardwell announces decision to return to Tigers for 2023-2024

Auburn center Dylan Cardwell announced is withdrawing his name the 2023 NBA Draft and will be returning to school next season, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein reported on Wednesday evening. The announcement doesn’t come as much of a surprise, considering Cardwell’s production the past few seasons for the Tigers. Last year, he averaged 3.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assist per game.

He’s averaged under 16 minutes for his entire Tigers’ career thus far. As a defender, Cardwell has averaged over one block per game the past two seasons of his college basketball career. In the 2022-2023 season, Cardwell set a career-high for blocked shots in the first two games (George Mason and USF) of the season (five).

As a freshman, he saw action in 27 games.

Cardwell played his high school basketball for McEachern (Powder Springs, Georgia). He was ranked as the No. 151 overall prospect in the country and a three-star recruit, according to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2020 cycle.

In 2020-2021, Cardwell was also named as a first year SEC Academic Honor Roll member.

Dylan Cardwell makes his decision, more on the 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. Round 1 of the draft will be announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, while Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum is expected to handle the second round of picks.

To be eligible for the NBA Draft, players must be at least 19 years in age during the calendar year that the draft is held and at least one NBA season from their high school graduation date, or the date that would have been if they are not graduated. It is not required that player spend that one year playing college basketball, though. Players can play in either college, abroad, or the G League Ignite if they choose so.

While this is a significant change from what the rules once were, players are eligible to enter their names into the NBA Draft pool and explore their options by hiring an agent to go through the process, while still keeping their college eligibility. The deadline to make that move is on April 23 beginning at 11:59 p.m. ET. Players have until June 12 at 5 p.m. ET to withdraw their name from the pool and return to college.

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 16, which is also the start of the NBA Conference Finals.