2019 NBA Draft deadline to withdraw: Kentucky's EJ Montgomery boosts Wildcats by returning

We're tracking the decisons on the deadline for players to withdraw from the draft and return to school

By Kyle Boone

May 29, 2019 at 9:42 pm ET • 4 min read

For a second consecutive offseason, Kentucky has convinced a former five-star prospect to return to Lexington for a sophomore season.

EJ Montgomery, a talented freshman who weighed his NBA Draft options over the last month, announced Thursday he has pulled his name from the draft pool and will return for a second season at UK. The decision comes a mere hours before the official midnight deadline for underclassmen testing the waters.

PJ Washington made the same decision a year ago by putting the NBA -- and a potential first-round status -- on hold. As a sophomore at Kentucky last season, Washington led the Wildcats in scoring and vaulted his draft status into lottery territory. Montgomery, alongside returning role player Nick Richards and Bucknell grad transfer Nate Sestina, has a chance to follow in the same path as his former teammate.

Montgomery's reported decision is indeed one of the biggest of deadline day, but we're not quite finished yet. There are other players who remain in the draft pool but are expected to withdraw. Players who wish to retain any remaining college eligibility must submit paperwork to the NBA as formal withdrawal intentions by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, else they'll be stuck in the draft for good.

By now, after the NBA Draft Combine, private workouts, meetings and interviews, players should be informed enough to know whether staying in the draft or going back to college is a wise one. Now, the difficult decision of actually deciding is all that is left.

As we barrel towards the deadline, CBS Sports will continue to update this tracker with the latest stay-or-go decisions in the sections below.