Alabama basketball's Mark Sears declares for NBA Draft
Alabama basketball guard Mark Sears has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility.
"I would like to thank God for blessing me with an amazing gift that has allowed me to play the game that I love, basketball," Sears wrote on social media. "His blessing has provided innumerable opportunities and I am truly appreciative of God's blessings, lessons and provisions along the way. After much consideration and deliberation, I have decided to declare for the 2024 NBA Draft while maintaining my college eligibility."
Sears is fresh off having led the Crimson Tide to the Final Four after a season in which he was the team's leading scorer. He averaged 21.5 points per game in his second season playing for Alabama to go with 4.2 rebounds and four assists while shooting 43.6% from beyond the arc. Sears scored 797 points, which is a program record for the Crimson Tide. Sears' efforts this past season earned him consensus second-team All-America honors and a spot on the All-SEC first team.
He has one year of eligibility remaining to use in college if he so chooses. The NBA Draft withdrawal deadline for early entrants is May 29 to maintain college eligibility. The NBA Draft is set to begin on June 26.
“Offensively, he’s been one of the best players in the country all year,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Thursday. “We would not be in the Final Four if it wasn’t for Mark Sears’ defense, leadership. He’s turned it around a lot in regard to that the last month.”
Sears also declared for the NBA Draft after the 2022-23 season and went through the process but decided to stay in college for another season. That led to him cementing his legacy as one of the all-time greats.
“We’ve had some great players come through the University of Alabama, but Mark Sears, he’s stamped his legacy,” former Alabama player and assistant coach Antoine Pettway said. “He had one of the most memorable NCAA Tournaments in the history of the University of Alabama. He’s going to go down as a legend in my book.”
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Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Mark Sears: NBA Draft declaration for Alabama basketball guard
