Louisville’s Deng Adel has decided to remain in college and withdraw his name from the 2017 NBA Draft. The 6-7 wing man for the Cards received feedback from various NBA teams but did not hire an agent through the process allowing for a return to college basketball. CBS Sports & the Courier-Journal confirmed Adel’s return to UofL for 2017-18 through an unnamed source, but the deadline to withdraw was this week and it would have been a big surprise if Deng had remained in the draft pool.

Deng worked out for the Bulls, Jazz, Spurs, Bucks and other NBA teams while receiving feedback on what he needs to work on to improve into the draft lottery for 2018’s NBA Draft. Adel will still have two years of eligibility remaining and Rick Pitino has said on two occassions that he plans to use Deng as a 2-guard more often this coming season as opposed to being exclusively a Small Forward like last season. VJ King is expected to play much more Small Forward with competition from Malik Williams, Dwayne Sutton and Jordan Nwora (and possibly others).

Adel steadily increased his production throughout 2016-17 and averaged 12.1 points and 4.5 rebounds as a sophomore. Deng battled injuries throughout his freshman season.

Deng’s return is the final question mark of the 2017-18 roster. Donovan Mitchell & Jaylen Johnson have both decided to remain in the draft and while the Cards have a scholarship available to use for 2017-18 Rick Pitino has said that he is electing to not use it despite late interest in graduate transfer Mark Alstork.

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@UofLSheriff50. Louisville native, University of Louisville Business School Grad c/o 2004. Co-Founder of TheCrunchZone.com

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