Cincinnati forward Landers Nolley declares for 2023 NBA Draft

Landers Nolley, terrific scorer and player for three different power conference schools, has entered his name in the 2023 NBA Draft after a long and strange college career. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reported the Nolley news to Twitter on Monday afternoon, writing:

“Cincinnati wing Landers Nolley will declare for the 2023 NBA Draft, he told ESPN. Nolley was named first-team All-AAC after leading the Bearcats in scoring at 16.7 points per game, shooting 42% for 3. He accepted an invite to attend the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in April.”

Nolley scored over 1,700 points throughout his career and was just a four-year senior. The 6-foot-7 wing actually began his career at Virginia Tech, playing center as a skinny redshirt freshman on a Hokies team that had plenty of talent but no size whatsoever. Seriously, aside from Nolley, VA Tech played no guys taller than 6-foot-6 more than 10 minutes a game. And he came in listed as a guard!

After playing for the Hokies in 2020 and head Buzz Williams bolting Blacksburg for Texas A&M, Nolley decided to move on from VT and landed at Memphis. He led the Tigers in scoring in 2021 for a team that was criminally underrated and missed the NCAA Tournament but won the NIT. Then, Memphis took a step up the next year (2022) and made the tourney field, but Nolley scored less and ended up transferring again after that season.

He landed at fellow AAC power Cincinnati and once again took over a team’s reigns as their leading scorer. But like his other two years as top option, the team failed to make the Big Dance. Now, the gifted scoring wing heads to the NBA, where his combination of size, length and shooting should pique some teams’ interest.

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.