Two Jayhawks, 36 other college players officially withdraw from 2026 NBA Draft
Incoming Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball transfers Keanu Dawes and Dennis Parker Jr. were two of 38 college players who this week notified the NBA’s league office that they wish to be removed from the list of early-entry candidates for the 2026 draft.
League officials made the announcement Thursday. This year’s NBA Draft is June 23-24 in Brooklyn, New York.
Dawes, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound senior forward who started his career at Rice before playing the past two seasons at Utah, and Parker, a 6-6 senior wing who played two seasons at North Carolina State before emerging as a force at Radford last season, announced plans to attend KU on April 16 and May 7, respectively.
Heading back to school
The two Jayhawks — and the other 36 players who’ve decided to continue their college careers rather than turning pro, at least for now — had until 10:59 p.m. Wednesday to exit the draft process and maintain their collegiate eligibility.
Until the NBA put out its list of 38, things had been pretty quiet on the Dawes-Parker front. Neither incoming KU player was invited to attend the NBA Combine or G League Combine for pro prospects.
Dawes, who was born in Salt Lake City and grew up in Houston, averaged 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds — fourth-most in the Big 12 — for Utah last season. Parker, a 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard from Richmond, Virginia, averaged 18.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.4 steals for Radford a year ago.
Parker hit 48.4% of his shots; Dawes 54.6%.
Dawes told Rivals.com he will be reporting to KU for summer-school classes/team workouts on Saturday. Parker also will be here sometime this weekend, 247sports.com reported.
“I move to Lawrence on May 30,” Dawes told Jayhawkslant.com. “I can’t wait to get to work.”
KU has two other incoming transfers who did not test the NBA Draft waters: Leroy Blyden Jr., a 6-1, 175-pound sophomore point guard from Detroit who played at Toledo last season; and Christian Reeves, a 7-1, 245-pound senior center from Charlotte, North Carolina, who attended Charleston in 2025-26 after suiting up for Duke for two years and Clemson for one.
Blyden averaged 16.4 points (on 46.1% shooting) and 4.5 assists per game at Toledo last season; Reeves averaged 11.1 points on 65.4% shooting and 7.8 rebounds at Charleston.
Nationally, several notable players joined the KU duo in removing their names from the draft pool Wednesday night.
They include: former KU forward Flory Bidunga, who is now headed to Louisville; John Blackwell (Duke, formerly of Wisconsin); Jeremy Fears (Michigan State); Milan Momcilovic, (undecided, formerly Iowa State); Tyler Tanner (Vanderbilt) and Tounde Yessoufou, (St. John’s, formerly of Baylor).
KU players start arriving on campus
Some of the members of KU’s 2026-27 team started arriving at McCarthy Hall, the Jayhawks players’ apartment complex, on Friday.
Atticus Richmond, a 6-8, 230-pound freshman forward from Lincolnshire, Illinois, averaged 9.0 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists last season at Newman, a prep school in Boston. Newman (39-3) won the NEPSAC Class AAA championship, the national prep championship and the New England Basketball League title in 2025-26.
“I’m really excited to be here, ready to get started, ready to get to work,” Richmond said Friday in a video posted to KU men’s basketball’s social-media accounts. “I’m looking forward to working, meeting all the guys, getting started on Monday (while) just being out here in Lawrence.”
Trent Perry, a 6-5, 190-pound freshman guard from Link Academy in Missouri, also moved into McCarthy Hall on Friday. Originally from Frisco, Texas, he played AAU ball for Mokan Elite.
“I’m excited, ready to get going,” Perry said in a KU social-media video. “We’re about to hit the ground running, ready to go.”
Perry said his goals this summer into his freshman campaign were “to get to know my teammates and find my role and win a lot of games and make the whole fanbase proud. That’s what we can do, win a championship.”
Other first-year Jayhawks on the 2026-27 roster who are expected to be in town soon for summer school include: Tyran Stokes, Luke Barnett, Grant Mordini, Davion Adkins and Taylen Kinney.
Kinney’s arrival will be in mid-June. He’s competing for USA Basketball’s Under-18 team in the 2026 FIBA AmeriCup, which runs Monday through June 7 in Mexico.
KU returnees from last year’s team include Paul Mbiya, Kohl Rosario and Will Thengvall.
