Report: Georgia center Russel Tchewa to return for 2023-24 season

Georgia just learned that a massive piece of its front-court will be on the team next fall. According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, former South Florida center and current Georgia commit Russel Tchewa will pull out of the 2023 NBA Draft and head to Athens for one final year of college ball.

Here was the report, which Rothstein tweeted:

“Source: Georgia’s Russel Tchewa has withdrawn from the 2023 NBA Draft and will return to school next season. Transfer from South Florida.”

Tchewa originally committed to Texas Tech out of high school and spent one year there as a redshirt freshman — the 2019 season, when the Red Raiders finished national runner-ups. Then, Big Russ landed in Tampa at USF, where he developed into the team’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder in 2022-23 at 11.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. After a dreadful season on the glass for the Bulldogs last year, the seven-foot veteran is a welcome sight seems to be the obvious choice for Mike White as the team’s day one starter down low.

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.