Three players expected to be among the best in college basketball during the 2026-27 season will have to wait longer than usual to enter the NBA Draft. In a world of one-and-done freshmen, Duke's Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, UCLA's Nikola Kusturica and Texas' Marcus Spears Jr. --- three expected stars this college basketball season --- are in a rare situation: All three must play at least two seasons of college basketball before entering the NBA Draft because of the league's age requirement. Why can't they enter the upcoming 2027 NBA Draft?
NBA rules state that a player must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft. Because of this rule, Boumtje Boumtje, Kusturica and Spears will not be eligible for the 2027 NBA draft and must wait until the 2028 draft to enter the league. What makes this situation even more special is that all three have a chance to be really good players in Year 1 and then headline the sport in Year 2.
This not only provides roster stability with incredible talents for Duke, UCLA, and Texas, but also gives college basketball fans a few household names for more than one year. If Boumtje Boumtje, Kusturica and Spears were eligible for the 2027 NBA Draft, they would compete to go No. 1 overall this summer. Entering the season, Kansas freshman Tyran Stokes is the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NBA Draft.
While the race for the top pick is expected to be competitive like last season's draft that saw AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer compete to go No. 1, this year's class doesn't project to have the true star power like that class did top to bottom. In short: even though the lottery system has changed to the 3-2-1 format, all eyes will be on 2028 when Boumtje Boumtje, Spears and Kusturica are eligible. Typically, when a player reclassifies to play college basketball a year early, it's to be eligible for the draft the following year.
That wasn't the case when former Arizona State and Kentucky big man Jayden Quaintance reclassified up to the 2024 class to play college basketball a year early. Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks during his freshman 2024-25 season at ASU as the youngest player in Division I basketball. Quaintance had surgery on a torn ACL after the season ended and then transferred to Kentucky, where he entered the season as a potential top-10 pick.
However, after playing just four games at Kentucky due to injury, his draft stock took a hit. Still, Quaintance was selected 20th overall by the Spurs despite missing almost the entire season with the Wildcats. Quaintance underwent another knee surgery after the draft, and a timeline to make his NBA debut remains unclear.
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