The NBA Combine is almost your last chance to impress teams enough to pick you in the NBA draft. It’s dissimilar to what these young men are used to.
Before the combine, coaches from top basketball programs are sending letters, calling players for a campus tour and promising a pathway to the highest level. Indiana’s shooting guard Romeo Langford remembers receiving those offers but it started way before he had to pick between Indiana, Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, North Carolina, UCLA and Duke.
Back in high school, Langford attended New Albany High School in Indiana after multiple prep schools showed interest. It’s clear why since Langford led New Albany to a regional tournament his freshman year, averaged 30.2 points per game, 9 rebounds and 3 assists his sophomore year and scored a career high 48 points in his senior year. He became a McDonald All-American in 2018 and ESPN ranked him 5th in their top 100 with a 95 scouting grade.
The current rules to be eligible for the NBA is that players must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft, have played at least one year of college or one year removed from high school.
With the talent Langford had leaving high school, some believed he could have went pro right after.
“I don’t know,” Langford said when asked at the NBA Combine if he could have went pro after high school.
“I enjoyed myself in college. I felt like I learned a lot , I felt like it was a good stepping stone for me to put in the NBA but – it would be nice to have the option to go straight to NBA or college first.”
Looking back and if the rules weren’t there, he believes he wouldn’t have been ready.
“I am now,” Langford explains, “my body matured, I was able to play against guys older than me instead of going straight to the NBA who already made a name for themselves and already grown men. I got time to college to help me mature as a young man and physically and mentally.”
Compared to a Bradley Beal who creates the shot for himself, the 6’6″ Langford guard is expected to go mid-first round in the draft on June 20.
Watch Langford talk about high school to pros on the next page.