Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas forward Jalen Wilson has pulled out of the 2022 NBA Draft and will return to Kansas for his redshirt-junior season, Wilson announced Wednesday via social media.
“We are all very excited to hear the news today from Jalen and his family that he will be returning to school for the 2022-23 campaign,” KU head coach Bill Self said. “He’s gone through the process and the process did exactly what it is intended to do. It gave him the feedback he needed to make an educated decision. We’re proud of the maturity Jalen showed in making the decision and very excited to put him a position to where he can enhance his opportunities to not only play, but have a long career in the NBA.
“Our team got a lot better today,” Self added. “As well as Jalen played last year, he is just scratching the surface of the entire player he can be for our program. I’m looking forward to the intangibles he will bring to this team as he and Dajuan (Harris) become the vets and the leaders of our program.”
A redshirt-sophomore last season, this is the second-straight year Wilson has declared for the draft. Wilson retained NCAA eligibility while testing the draft process. Per NCAA rules, student-athletes can participate in the NBA draft process and return to college if withdrawn by June 1.
Wilson ranked second in the Big 12 in rebounds with 7.4 per game and he was named All-Big 12 Third Team in 2021-22. The Denton, Texas, native’s 11.1 points per game were 19th in the league and his seven double-doubles were third. Wilson is a two-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree and he recorded 10 or more rebounds 12 times last season, including four in the NCAA Tournament. Named Big 12 Player of the Week once in 2021-22, Wilson averaged 12.0 points and 9.7 rebounds in KU’s six NCAA Tournament games on its run to the 2022 NCAA National Championship.
As a redshirt-freshman, Wilson was a member of the Big 12 All-Newcomer and the Big 12 All-Freshman teams, where he averaged 11.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He recorded nine double-doubles in 2020-21 and was second in the league in rebound average and second in double-doubles.
For his career, Wilson has started 53-of-64 games while at Kansas and has averaged 11.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per outing.
