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June 21, 2008 - 2:51PM
Updated: June 21, 2008 - 10:13PM
UA signee Jennings considers European play
Bruce Pascoe, Arizona Daily Star
Standout University of Arizona signee Brandon Jennings is preparing to pioneer a new route to the NBA for academic nonqualifiers: through Europe. Jennings, a point guard, told ESPN.com he is thinking about playing overseas next season if he does not meet NCAA eligibility requirements to play for the Wildcats.
His mother, Alice Knox, has even hired Los Angeles attorney Jeffrey Valle to explore the unprecedented possibility of a U.S. high school star starting his career there.
Kelly Williams, father of Nets guard Marcus Williams and a family friend of Jennings, said Jennings is only exploring the idea as a second option.
“It’s just Plan B,” Williams said Friday from New Jersey. “First and foremost, he wants to go to Arizona. If that doesn’t happen, then you’re not going to just sit out. You want to compete.”
Jennings, a native of Compton, Calif., attended Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
Jonathan Givony, president of Draft Express, said at the NBA’s predraft camp last month that the European market would be limited for a point guard such as Jennings, probably netting him less than $100,000.
“But if he wanted to really get creative, he could sign for a year and get an NBA buyout” that an NBA team would have to pay, Givony said. “Then it would make sense for the team and for him. They’d make money that way.”
Speculation about Jennings’ future has built since it became known last month that he was not yet academically qualified to play this fall.
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