Andrew Bogut expects gun Australian teenager Dante Exum to make the “smart” choice and skip the American college basketball system to enter next year’s NBA draft.
Exum is a being tipped as a top five pick if he goes into the 2014 draft, but Bogut on Tuesday warned that sort of ranking could be lost if the 18-year-old opted to play US college basketball next season.
“He’s a projected top five pick and he could go to college and risk getting hurt,” Bogut, the first Australian to be drafted No.1 when picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2005, told Melbourne’s SEN radio on Tuesday.
“You’re also under the pressure of the scouts – they start to nitpick a little bit so it could hurt your spot as well.
“I think he’ll do the smart thing. I think he’ll end up coming over here a little earlier and just training and working out and then enter the draft.”
Exum, in Canberra on a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport, has been aggressively pursued by elite colleges Indiana, Louisville, Louisiana State, Michigan and Kentucky.
But bypassing that could land him a multi-million dollar contract next year.
The 198cm point guard on Monday said he would decide by February whether to nominate for June’s NBA draft.
“It shouldn’t be too hard (a decision) to make,” he told Fairfax Media said.
“But I just want to make sure I use my time right so I make the right decision.”
Exum is this week competing at the Australian School Championships with his Canberra college team, Lake Ginninderra, scoring 32 points in their opening 96-90 win over Caulfield Grammar on Monday.
A film crew from sports website The Bleacher Report is reportedly following the son of NBL import Cecil Exum during the tournament.
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