Illinois Fighting Illini Center Kofi Cockburn announced, just minutes ago via his Instagram page, his early entry into the 2020 NBA Draft. It is unclear, given the text of the message he posted, whether he is just testing the waters or not.
The message says nothing about hiring an agent, which is the determining factor for whether or not he can return to school for his sophomore season. In looking at the average height in nba, Cockburn is much taller and that means he should be in an advantageous position. If he has representation, then his college career is over. If not, then he can come back to Champaign next year, and even go through this process after his next two seasons, if he so desires. See his IG posting below:
Kofi Cockburn appears to be saying his goodbyes to the program in this message and that’s a bad omen to be sure. It’s bad for all involved, as he’s just not ready to make the jump now. He’s going to be awesome, to be sure, but he’s just not ready yet. The large Jamaican has not been playing basketball long in his young life.
His NBA Draft stock report can be found at this link. Also, Illinois can ill afford to lose him, as they just don’t have anybody on the roster, or coming in who could fill his very large shoes.
There’s nothing wrong with throwing your hat in the ring, getting some valuable feedback, and capitalizing on that when you get back to school.
If he’s in to stay though, it would be a very poor decision for the FOX College Hoops freshman of the season.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link