In less than a month, the 2025 NBA Draft will take place. Over the past 24 hours, there has been a surge of breaking news about players choosing to return to their teams for the 2025 season rather than enter the draft, despite the headlines usually focusing on the prospects projected at the top, such as Cooper Flagg of Duke and Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey of Rutgers.
Adding himself to the expanding list of returning players is Virginia Tech forward Tobi Lawal. Lawal is the ninth prospect to withdraw from the draft on the final day, according to recent reports from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.
Other players that Rothstein has mentioned in recent posts on X include Tayton Conerway of Indiana, Karter Knox of Arkansas, Milos Uzan of Houston, Brenan Lorient of West Virginia, Joson Sanon of St. John’s, Bruce Thornton of Ohio State, Alex Condon of Florida, and Yaxel Lendeborg of UAB, who is transferring to Michigan for the upcoming season.
Lawal, like all of the players opting to withdraw from the draft, is far from a household name. Lawal transferred to the Hokies after two seasons at VCU and had a significant influence on the ACC program.
He started 30 games for Virginia Tech and contributed 12.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He was the Hokies’ leading scorer and rebounder last season.
