By Laura Amato
Hamidou Diallo just wants to test the waters.
The Corona native hasn’t played a single college basketball game since enrolling early at Kentucky this year, but the 6-foot-5 shooting guard is still determined to keep his options open, announcing via Twitter Sunday that he plans to enter his name in the NBA Draft.
“Playing in the NBA has always been the ultimate goal for me,” Diallo posted. “It’s part of what makes Kentucky so special ithat it prepares you for the next level better than anywhere he else.”
“When I decided to enroll in school in January, my plan was to come to Kentucky to work on my game and focus on school,” he continued. “At the end of the season, I knew I wanted to see where I was in the draft process and go through that so I could get a proper evaluation.”
Diallo’s basketball road hasn’t been a simple one.
He graduated from Putnam Science Academy last year and enrolled at Kentucky just a few weeks after committing to the Wildcats. However, he didn’t play a single game in blue and white.
Instead, Diallo practiced with the squad and, despite a handful of mid-season rumors, he never suited up for an actual college basketball game.
Diallo will turn 19 in July, making him eligible for the Draft. He said throughout the year that he and Kentucky head coach John Calipari would decide what his best options were at the end of the college hoops season. Now, that best option appears to be the NBA.
“I want to see where my game is and explore all my options,” Diallo said. “I just want to keep all doors open, and I want to thank Coach Cal, the coaching staff and my teammates for allowing me to pursue my dreams.”
The biggest thing for Diallo isn’t his decision to wade into the Draft waters, it’s the decision not to hire an agent. That means Diallo can still pull his name out of consideration before the Draft, maintaining his college eligibility no matter what.
The exit deadline is May 24 and in that time, Diallo will be evaluated by a handful of NBA scouts. If he’s invited to the NBA Combine, he can measure his skills against some of the top college talent in the country.
There is, of course, the possibility that Diallo won’t pull out of the Draft and the high-flying guard could be on the fast-track to NBA stardom without ever playing a single college minute.
Diallo, however, isn’t making any concrete decisions yet and he was the first to point that out. This is simply an opportunity for him to gauge interest from the biggest names in the business and most importantly, another option on the court.
“I don’t know what the next few weeks are going to have in store for me, but I do know I’m going to work as hard as I ever have and keep an open mind,” he posted. “At the end of the day, this is a learning process for me.”
