5-star freshman quits NCAA, signs with European pro team
Freshman Billy Preston, who was suspended by the University of Kansas following an incident where he missed curfew and failed to go to class, has left the Jayhawks basketball program, signing with BC Igokea of the Bosnian league.
The league announced the news Saturday morning, and Kansas coach Bill Self confirmed it.
The move comes despite Preston having played very well for the Jayhawks against Missouri in a preseason exhibition game, scoring 12 points. The 6-foot-10 forward looked to become a major part of his team’s efforts to find NCAA success this year.
It was expected that Preston would regain his eligibility in time for the meat of the conference season; he was supposed to return for the game against TCU on Jan. 6.
However, Preston never received a ruling from the NCAA, leaving him continually ineligible while the clock continues to tick ever onward toward June’s NBA draft.
Jonathan Givony of Draft Express implied in a tweet that the real reason for Preston’s move was his link to the NCAA’s corruption scandal:
Billy Preston yet another player caught up in the FBI/DOJ NCAA scandal. Paper trail leading back to adidas was likely too much for Kansas to risk considering the limited reward.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) January 20, 2018
With the prospect of college no longer being a viable option, Preston took off for Europe — and unlike a certain bombastic clown and his two sons in Lithuania, this looks to be a legitimate basketball move, not a publicity stunt.
Preston’s mother, Nicole Player, told ESPN on Saturday, “It’s been too long. They didn’t have an answer and weren’t prepared to give us answers. He just wants to play.”
Coach Self, meanwhile, issued a statement saying, “I can confirm that Billy Preston is foregoing his eligibility to play at Kansas and has signed with a professional team in Bosnia. Billy’s family has been very upfront telling us that his first choice was to stay at Kansas, but with the uncertainty of the situation they needed to look at other potential options. The opportunity in Bosnia came with a deadline for a decision, and the family reached that decision Friday afternoon.”
He continued, “We are all disappointed that Billy never had the opportunity to experience college basketball competition but we certainly support him and wish him the best. Although he has been frustrated with the situation, Billy’s attitude has been tremendous and he has developed a person and as a player. I’m sure that will continue as he prepares for his professional career.”
Bosnia is a great place for a big man to develop his talents: The roster of Bosnian players currently in the NBA includes Jusuf Nurkic of the Trail Blazers, Dragan Bender of the Suns, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Pacers, Mirza Teletovic of the Bucks, and Ivica Zubac of the Lakers, and Bogdanovic is the shortest of the lot at 6-foot-8. The 6-foot-10 Preston should fit the Bosnian style nicely.
BC Igokea issued a statement of its own, saying, “We are honored to have such a tremendous talent in our organization. We were watching his situation closely and reached out to his family to show interest and ultimately reached an Agreement with the family Attorney in California on a contract for the rest of the season. We know Billy is an NBA prospect so we will do our best to continue his development to help him excel for our club and fulfill his goal which is to be an NBA star in the near future.”
Igokea plays in the ABA, which brings to mind big Afros and red, white and blue basketballs here in the States but which in fact stands for Adriatic Basketball Association, a regional “super league.” It is an association of clubs from the former Yugoslavia and includes elite competition such as KK Crvena Zvezda (which sent the NBA Boban Marjanovic and Nemanja Bjelica) and Partizan (the onetime home of Vlade Divac and Hall of Famer Drazen Petrovic).
And speaking of the clown from a few paragraphs up, this is a blow for LaVar Ball’s Junior Basketball Association; if a big baller like Billy Preston can take his talents to Bosnia rather than make any kind of commitment to Ball’s imaginary empire, that’s actual, ironclad proof that nobody is taking him seriously except for maybe the trademark office.
Instead, Preston is going to try to turn around the fortunes of an underdog in Europe; BC Igokea is 6-11 in ABA competition, standing ninth in the 12-team league at 6-11 following a 95-73 loss to FMP Beograd of Serbia on Friday night.
You can bet that NBA scouts will have their eyes wide open when watching those Yugoslavian contests; those nations are on Central European Time, putting them six hours ahead of the East Coast here in the States and nine hours up on the West, like most of Europe a fantastic bit of basketball background noise during a 9-to-5 workday.
Whether it means Preston keeps his draft stock at least well enough alive to be one of the 60 selections come June is an open question; he was the No. 8 forward and 20th overall in the recruiting and was a McDonald’s All American, so he’s clearly an NBA-caliber talent.
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