JD Notae announces he’s leaving the Arkansas Basketball team

Arkansas Basketball star and All-American JD Notae made an announcement April 3 about what his future holds as a basketball player.

Notae had three very different options moving forward, which we outlined in detail in an early post. The three most realistic options for the Georgia-native were to return to the Razorbacks, transfer to another team, or declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.

Notae announced via his Instagram page that he won’t be returning to Arkansas next season.

Arkansas Basketball player JD Notae declares for 2022 NBA Draft

The senior, who had one year remaining of eligibility due to the NCAA’s Covid-19 policy, has opted to hire an agent and fully commit to becoming a professional basketball player.

The former SEC Sixth-Man of the Year and Third Team All-American is giving up that final year of eligibility by hiring an agent.

It’s not a complete surprise that Notae has decided against coming back to the Razorbacks next season. Despite being one of the top scorers in the SEC last season as the team’s starting point guard, he was almost certainly going to have to change his role on the team with all the 5-star freshmen talent coming to Fayetteville next season.

Notae was between a rock and a hard place. There was not much more for him to accomplish at the college level. He’s won a ton of personal accolades and helped turn an average college basketball team into a contender.

However, his NBA draft stock is lukewarm at best. Current projections from NBADraft.net have Notae being selected in the mid-to-late second round. Being drafted in the second round provides no guarantee that he’ll stick with an NBA team.

His path to becoming a full-time NBA player may first go through the G-League or overseas in a foreign league.

But, Notae is choosing to bet on himself to see if he can stand out in the upcoming NBA Draft combine next month and show that he has the complete package that NBA team desires.