There was talk of him maybe leaving last year too right? Stock is never gonna be higher and if he is a guy intent on getting to the NBA even if its as a 2nd rounder and spending time in the NBAGL there is prolly not much else he can do to elavate his stock in college.
Yeah, he declared and got invited to the combine last year. Got knocked heavily at the combine because his measurables weren't all that good. I was expecting him to show better in things like shuttle drills and vertical, to make up for being 5' 10.75" barefoot, but he showed slow in the shuttle drills and had one of the worst verticals of any guard.
Problem for him is that very few of those things are going to change. He's not getting taller. I don't think he's going to develop more vertical. And perhaps he can train for better technique on some of the agility drills and improve some times, but it's not like he's going to go from one of the slowest guards at the combine in 2018 to one of the fastest in 2019. And none of those things will be that much better in 2020.
That's why I think a lot of it depends on what the NBA scouts tell him. If he's fringe 1st round and a team tells him "we'll take you late first if you're there", or if he's certain that he can get a 2-way contract instead of summer league / G-league, he's gotta take it. That's instant millionaire.
If he's not hearing that, and is worried about getting stuck in the G-league, he might come back. His stock isn't expected to rise much with another year in college, but neither is it expected to drop. But perhaps at that point, finishing his degree and having another year in the spotlight of the B1G and with another option to make history at Purdue next year, maybe it's worth it.