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Georgia Basketball: Waiting on Yante Maten

By Alistair Penny

Feb 14, 2017; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs forward Yante Maten (1) in action against Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Lamar Peters (1) during the second half at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia defeated Mississippi 79-72. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2017; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs forward Yante Maten (1) in action against Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Lamar Peters (1) during the second half at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia defeated Mississippi 79-72. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports /
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Georgia Basketball is still waiting on a Yante Maten decision and there’s less than a week to go.

Related Story: Maten not going to Combine

The NBA had its draft lottery last night. As the Boston Celtics start planning what to do with the first overall pick in the draft, Georgia’s star player still has some thinking to do himself. Yante Maten entered himself for the NBA draft was not invited to attend the Combine. He has less than a week to withdraw his name from the draft and return to UGA.

We are yet to hear from Maten. He did not get the invite from the NBA a week ago so in some ways it’s surprising we have not heard from him. He did not appoint an agent so he does not have one representing him. If he did, they likely would be trying to figure out what teams are interested in him.

He can talk to teams himself and so can Georgia’s coaches. Hopefully they are doing just that and finding out what his options are.

What to expect

It’s hard to know what Maten is going to do at the moment. With no clear path to being drafted, conventional wisdom would suggest he returns to UGA for his senior season. That being said, there’s always the possibility that some team has told him that they will offer him a place in their camp. Even if he ends up in the D-league, it’s still good to actually get paid to play ball right?

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I think that Maten will wait until the last day he can and then pull himself out of the draft. He has a great deal of talent and I believe that he can end up getting drafted in 2018. He’s the kind of player teams look for and the 2017 draft class is one of the deepest in years. If he has a good final reason, I think he stands a better chance of a decent pro career.

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