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Tennessee center Uros Plavsic turns pro, will forgo final season

Alex Weberby: Alex Weber05/22/23Alexhweber
Uros Plavsic
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Tennessee will not be getting veteran big man Uros Plavsic back for one more final season in Knoxville, as he will stay in the 2023 NBA Draft. The seven-foot Serbian played four years in the orange and white, starting the majority of the team’s games at center in his final two seasons with the program, where he played the necessary enforcer role for Rick Barnes.

Plavsic announced the news on Monday afternoon via his Twitter page, where he posted the following tweet along with a message to the fans.

Take a look:

There you have it. The longtime Tennessee big man officially ends his career as a Volunteer to explore whatever professional opportunities may await him.

For his career, Uros Plavsic averaged 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds while starting 45 total games throughout his collegiate career. Surely he’ll take whatever shot he can get in the NBA, but if he fails to catch on stateside, he could return home to Europe where there will be plenty of opportunities to make some serious cash playing pro ball.

More on the 2023 NBA Draft

The 2023 NBA Draft is set to take place on Thursday, June 22, 2023, in Brooklyn at Barclays Center. Round 1 of the draft will be announced by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, while Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum is expected to handle the second round of picks.

To be eligible for the NBA Draft, players must be at least 19 years in age during the calendar year that the draft is held and at least one NBA season from their high school graduation date, or the date that would have been if they are not graduated. It is not required that player spend that one year playing college basketball, though. Players can play in either college, abroad, or the G League Ignite if they choose so.

While this is a significant change from what the rules once were, players are eligible to enter their names into the NBA Draft pool and explore their options by hiring an agent to go through the process, while still keeping their college eligibility. The deadline to make that move is on April 23 beginning at 11:59 p.m. ET. Players have until June 12 at 5 p.m. ET to withdraw their name from the pool and return to college.

The NBA Draft Lottery will be held on May 16, which is also the start of the NBA Conference Finals.