University of Miami point guard Shane Larkin is headed to the NBA.
Larkin will skip his final two seasons of eligibility to turn pro and turned in his paperwork to the NBA this week, according to a UM source with knowledge of the situation. Larkin informed UM coach Jim Larranaga of his decision on Wednesday.
“Every indication he’s giving me is that he’s going to the NBA,” Barry Larkin, the baseball Hall of Famer and Shane’s father, said Friday. “I’ve given him advice whenever he’s needed it, but this is his decision.”
Larkin is scheduled to announce make a formal announcement at 6 p.m. Sunday during a news conference at UM.
The decision to turn pro was solidified for Larkin, according to a source, after Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart decided recently to return to school. With Smart taking himself out of the draft, Larkin is widely ranked as the third-best point guard available to NBA teams behind Michigan’s Trey Burke and Syracuse’s Michael Carter-Williams.
Various mock drafts have Larkin going somewhere between the late first round and early in the second.
Larkin’s decision to enter the NBA draft leaked earlier this week, but he denied it on his Twitter account.
“Don’t listen to whoever put the rumor out that I declared,” Larkin tweeted. “It isn’t true. I will make an announcement Sunday at 6 about my future.”
But that announcement will be a formality for Larkin, who averaged 14.5 points and 4.6 assists as a sophomore and was named ACC Player of the Year by the conference coaches. The 5-foot-11 Larkin was also one of five finalists for the Cousy Award given to the nation’s top point guard.
With Larkin’s departure, the Hurricanes are losing all five starters and their six leading scorers — Larkin, Kenny Kadji, Durand Scott, Julian Gamble, Trey McKinney-Jones and Reggie Johnson — from a team that won ACC regular season and conference tournament championships and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament before losing to Marquette.
Larkin is the first UM player to leave early for the NBA draft since Guillermo Diaz in 2006. Diaz was a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers.
UM hopes to fill Larkin’s vacancy by signing Angel Rodriguez, a second-team All-Big 12 selection last season who announced this week he is transferring from Kansas State. Rodriguez announced he is leaving Kansas State in order to be closer to his family in Puerto Rico and is expected to ask the NCAA to waive its rule that players who transfers must sit out one season.
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