Duke's Jabari Parker has been in the national spotlight for some time now. Gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high schooler will do that.
In the era of one-and-dones, it was safe to assume that a player of his caliber (he's a projected top 3 pick) would jump to the NBA and give in to the lure of the game cheques that come with that move.
However, on Monday, Bulls.com reporter Sam Smith reported that the opposite may be true. Here's an excerpt from Smith's News and Notes article from Monday.
And the growing view among NBA executives seems to be Jabari Parker will not leave Duke this year. Chicagoan Jahlil Okafor, a Parker friend and big man, is going to Duke next season. Parker is a bright young man with a strong family and the feeling is he understands both the importance of education and feels he owes Duke and the chance to have a great Duke team, which more than likely is the next two seasons. Plus, Parker has seen what staying in school has done for other greats compared with the tough starts for even stars like Kobe Bryant.
This news, if true, combined with the poor play of late from Andrew Wiggins is a devastating blow to an NBA draft class that suddenly may not be as deep as once thought.
