Serbian center Pavle Backo withdrew from the 2026 draft prior to Saturday’s deadline, according to the NBA (Twitter link). He joins Francesco Ferrari and Luigi Suigo as international prospects who withdrew before the league’s deadline on June 13 (three others withdrew prior to the NCAA’s deadline on May 27).
As the NBA confirms, a total of 31 early entrants have decided to keep their names in this year’s draft, which will take place next week on June 23 and 24.
Here are the 26 college underclassmen who are remaining in the draft:
- Darius Acuff, G, Arkansas (freshman)
- Nate Ament, F, Tennessee (freshman)
- Christian Anderson, G, Texas Tech (sophomore)
- Cameron Boozer, F, Duke (freshman)
- Mikel Brown Jr., G, Louisville (freshman)
- Brayden Burries, G, Arizona (freshman)
- Cameron Carr, G, Baylor (junior)
- Chris Cenac, F/C, Houston (freshman)
- AJ Dybantsa, F, BYU (freshman)
- Isaiah Evans, G/F, Duke (sophomore)
- Kingston Flemings, G, Houston (freshman)
- Allen Graves, F, Santa Clara (freshman)
- Morez Johnson, F/C, Michigan (sophomore)
- Aday Mara, C, Michigan (junior)
- Ebuka Okorie, G, Stanford (freshman)
- Koa Peat, F, Arizona (freshman)
- Darryn Peterson, G, Kansas (freshman)
- Labaron Philon, G, Alabama (sophomore)
- Jayden Quaintance, F/C, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Hannes Steinbach, F, Washington (freshman)
- Dailyn Swain, G/F, Texas (junior)
- Meleek Thomas, G, Arkansas (freshman)
- Bryson Tucker, F, Washington (sophomore)
- Henri Veesaar, C, North Carolina (junior)
- Keaton Wagler, G, Illinois (freshman)
- Caleb Wilson, F, North Carolina (freshman)
Here are the five international early entrants who are staying in the draft (the country indicates where the player had been playing, not necessarily where he was born):
- Mohammad Amini, G/F, France (born 2005)
- Sergio De Larrea, G, Spain (born 2005)
- Vsevolod Ishchenko, G, Russia (born 2005)
- Jack Kayil, G, Germany (born 2006)
- Karim Lopez, F, Australia (born 2007)
The total number of early entrants has been trending sharply downward in recent years. This is due in part to players who were granted an extra year of eligibility in 2021 due to COVID-19 having graduated, meaning we no longer have dozens of “seniors” on the early entrant list. Additionally, the implementation of a rule allowing student athletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) has made college basketball more lucrative than going pro for many young players.
Back in 2022, a total of 283 early entrants tested the draft waters and 149 kept their names in the draft pool. In 2025, those figures were down to just 109 and 46, respectively, and this year’s totals were just 72 and 31.
Our 2026 NBA draft early entrants list has been updated to reflect the latest changes. In addition to the 31 prospects listed above, our tracker also includes the 41 players who withdrew from the draft, including Backo, Ferrari and Suigo.
