Eastern Michigan forward Emoni Bates declares for 2023 NBA Draft

Emoni Bates is finally headed to the NBA. The Eastern Michigan star forward, who was once widely regarded as the next big thing in basketball, has elected to declare for the 2023 NBA Draft.

NBA insider Shams Charania announced the news Monday morning, writing in a tweet: “Eastern Michigan sophomore Emoni Bates has entered the 2023 NBA Draft, Bates told @TheAthletic @Stadium. Bates, 19, was the top high school recruit, and played at University of Memphis in 2021-22 and EMU in 2022-23. He averaged 19.2 points at EMU.”

Bates, a sophomore transfer from Memphis, returned to his hometown of Ypsilanti, Michigan this past season to play for EMU. The 6-foot-10 Bates averaged 19.1 points per game (39th in the country) for the Eagles this past season, but the team failed to have success throughout the 2022-23 campaign, finishing with an 8-23 record.

Coming out of high school, Bates was a consensus five-star recruit, per the On3 Industry Rankings, which is a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was the No. 1 small forward in the class and No. 5 player overall — and that was after he reclassified to the 2021 class.

His high profile status coming out of high school, shot-making ability and size alone makes him primed to be given at least a shot at playing, and remaining on an NBA roster. Pro scouts still question his maturity, defense and athleticism, which is why many expect Bates to be a mid-to-late second-round draft choice, according to Bleacher Report’s latest mock draft, per NBA.com.

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.