BREAKING: Jared Butler withdraws from NBA draft, will return for junior season
The news just keeps getting better for Baylor’s basketball program.
Less than a week after guard MaCio Teague announced he was withdrawing from the NBA draft, leading scorer and third-team All-American Jared Butler said that he, too, will return to Baylor for the 2020-21 season.
Most NBA mock drafts listed Butler, a combo guard, as a mid-second-round pick.
“This was probably the toughest decision of my lifetime,” Butler told ESPN’s Trey Wingo during a Zoom call Monday morning.
Butler averaged a team-high 16 points as a sophomore last season for a Bears squad that went 26-4 overall and was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for five consecutive weeks. A first-team all-conference selection, Butler will be a top candidate for Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year honors this fall.
“It was super chaotic,” Butler said. “(There is) just a lot of uncertainty about the college season, about the NBA season. I thought I did a great job this past season, just for myself and for my team in general. With the inquiries about me from NBA teams, I thought it was time to test the waters and see what they were actually saying.
“It was tough, because I felt like my dreams were right there. I got a lot of positive feedback and I would’ve felt comfortable staying in the draft. But I think it was the best decision to come back and get better and do some things with my team that I didn’t get to do.”
Butler said he’s excited to be returning along with Teague, who ranked second behind Butler in scoring last season.
“I don’t think there was any colluding or anything like that,” Butler said, laughing. “But I’m glad to be back with my guy to be able to working toward something again.”
Butler’s return will likely cause Baylor to vault to No. 1 in the preseason rankings of numerous media outlets. The Bears return four starters in Butler, Teague, Davion Mitchell and Mark Vital—all of whom earned first-, second- or third-team All-Big 12 honors last season. Also back are Matthew Mayer, Tristan Clark and Flo Thamba, who played pivotal roles off the bench.
No team in the nation will boast a backcourt as deep and talented as the Bears’ trio of Butler, Teague and Mitchell. And Baylor won’t lose anything when it goes to its bench, where Presbyterian transfer Adam Flagler (who redshirted last season) is expected to replace Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Devonte Bandoo, who graduated.
Butler laughed when asked if it was “title or bust” for Baylor this season.
“I guess you could say that after what we did last year,” he said. “But for us, we don’t buy into the hype. We buy into us getting better, and us doing better than what we did last year.”
Baylor will be seeking its first Big 12 title in school history and its first Final Four berth since 1950. The Bears have never won an NCAA title in basketball.