Ayton will skip NBA Draft Combine, Arizona’s Trier and Alkins to attend
May 7, 2018, 1:22 PM | Updated: 4:25 pm
Arizona's Rawle Alkins (1) and Deandre Ayton (13) celebrate during the final seconds of the team's 84-78 victory over No. 3 Arizona State during an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
(AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
Deandre Ayton won’t risk his status as a potential No. 1 overall pick by taking part in the 2018 NBA Draft Combine, but two of his former Arizona Wildcats teammates will attend the event in Chicago with the hopes of improving their stock.
Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier are among 69 players on the initial list of invitees for the combine, which will take place from May 16-20. The 6-foot-5 shooting guards are respectively ranked by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony as the 61st- and 83rd-best prospects in the draft.
Ayton and Luka Doncic, who are widely regarded as the two best prospects in the 2018 class, will not make the trip to Chicago.
Doncic is not doing so due to obligations for his current team in Spain. Real Madrid will be playing in the EuroLeague Final Four that will take place on May 18 and 20.
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Top overall prospects often decline the option to attend the combine, though most of the other top prospects in the 2018 draft will be there.
The only other notable prospect who won’t make the trip is Texas A&M center Robert Williams, a projected mid-first-round pick. That means potential top-10 prospects Marvin Bagley III, Jaren Jackson Jr., Mohamed Bamba, Trae Young and Michael Porter Jr., among others, will work out in front of NBA teams.
The 7-foot, 250-pound Ayton averaged 20.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks and shot 61.2 percent from the field as a freshman for Arizona.
Trier, a junior, averaged 18.1 points, 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game last season while shooting 50 percent form the floor and 38 percent from beyond the three-point line.
With the regular season in the books, here is a closer look at the most efficient offensive players from power conferences this season. pic.twitter.com/4li0XfevHQ
— Synergy Basketball (@SynergySST) March 6, 2018
Trier and Ayton ranked among the five most efficient scorers of power conference players (in terms of points per possession) at the end of the NCAA regular season.
Alkins battled injuries but in 2017-18 averaged 13.1 points, 2.5 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard shot 43.2 percent and 35.9 percent from three-point range as a sophomore.
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