UCLA Basketball: Freshman Jaylen Hands to test the waters of the NBA Draft
UCLA basketball’s freshman point guard Jaylen Hands is declaring for the NBA Draft, but he’s leaving the door open for a return.
There’s a possibility that the UCLA basketball team will be losing two point guards this off-season. Two days ago it was announced that Junior point guard Aaron Holiday was in fact leaving Westwood for the NBA draft.
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Yesterday, freshman floor general Jaylen Hands announced on Instagram that he is also declaring for the draft, but he is not going all in.
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Hands might have declared for the draft, but he is leaving the door open for a return as he stated that he will not be hiring an agent and will simply “test the waters” of the NBA draft.
This is a smart move for a player who is not only ambitious enough to want to jump to the NBA draft, but will have the ability to come back to the Bruins if it turns out that he will not have a favorable draft stock.
Hands came to UCLA as a five-star recruit and would be the backup point guard to Holiday. The freshman was able to contribute to the Bruins throughout the season, but wasn’t entirely consistent throughout.
Hands finished the season averaging 9.9 points (4th on the team), 4.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
If Hands does decide to leave Westwood, that would leave the Bruins with only one point guard for next season, four-star incoming freshmen Tyger Campbell, which means that head coach Steve Alford would have to do some work to get another ball handler in for next season.
Talked it over and decided to enter my name in the 2018 NBA Draft. No agent ..Testing waters ...… https://t.co/KIUrU9FuQ1
— Jaylen Hands (@JHANDS08) March 28, 2018
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Though Hands has every right to test the waters, it seems to be in his best interest to return to UCLA. Not only would he be starting at the one spot, but that experience next year should be able to boost his stock for the 2019 NBA Draft. Either way, let us hope he makes the best decision for himself.