After leading Ohio State to a second place finish in the Big Ten and a second round appearance in the NCAA Tournament, redshirt junior forward Keita Bates-Diop has declared for the 2018 NBA Draft and plans to hire an agent, as first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
"These last four years have been the best four years of my life, and it's been a great journey," Bates-Diop said, before formally announcing his intentions to enter the NBA Draft and hire an agent.
The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, Bates-Diop averaged 19.8 points and pulled down 8.7 rebounds per game while leading the Buckeyes to a 25-9 record in 2017-18, a year in which Ohio State was projected to finish in the bottom tier of the Big Ten.
"This is an exciting day," Chris Holtmann said. "This is really an exciting day for us, it's an exciting day for Buckeye nation. It's one to really celebrate."
Bates-Diop was projected in CBS Gary Parrish's latest mock draft as a late first-round pick, going No. 25 overall to the Portland Trail Blazers.
The last Ohio State player to be selected in the NBA Draft was D'Angelo Russell in the 2015 draft, who was selected No. 2 overall by the Los Angeles Lakers.
