In a move that was widely expected, freshman Julius Randle of the University of Kentucky Wildcats has become a “one and done”, as the power forward has officially declared for the 2014 NBA Draft. Randle recently helped the Wildcats reach the NCAA Championship game, only to fall to the University of Connecticut Huskies.
“Kentucky will always have a special place in my heart, but growing up as a kid, there’s always been my dream to play in the NBA, and there’s no better opportunity for me to achieve that than now,” Randle said at a news conference.
“Talking with my family, a lot of prayer, I’m deciding to declare for the NBA draft,” Randle said. “I came here to grow and mature. I’ve done that.”
Randle averaged 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds and was voted to The Associated Press’ All-America third team. The 6-foot-9 forward recorded 24 double-doubles, which is a record for UK freshmen. He’s projected by most NBA draft analysts to be selected between third and fifth overall in the June 26th draft, meaning Randle will likely receive a two-year guaranteed contract valued somewhere between $6.1 million and $7.5 million.
“It wasn’t something that we said we were going to do overnight,” Randles’ mother Carolyn Kyles said of the decision-making process. “We prayed about it and talked about it for a while and decided this is the best decision for him. … It was important to know their feedback, if they thought he was ready to go out there and contribute to a team. The positive feedback, there was enough of it coming from Coach Cal that we felt this was the right thing to do.”
Randle joins guard James Young, as Wildcats declaring for the NBA Draft, the 11th and 12th “one-and-done” players under John Calipari. There are a number of other Wildcats who have not made a decision, and Sunday is the deadline for declaring for this years draft. Further losses could be felt by the Wildcats before that.
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