After a season in which he averaged a middling 6.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, Ohio State’s Trevor Thompson raised a few eyebrows when he opted to take advantage of a new NCAA rule and declare early for the NBA Draft without hiring an agent.
The thinking, for Thompson, was simple: He was going to go through the pre-draft process, receive some feedback, hope to earn an invitation to the NBA Combine and then assess his status at the end. If he did not like where things stood, he would return to Ohio State for his junior season. The new NCAA rule allowed him to do so.
Many viewed Thompson’s decision as somewhat of a waste of time, though; that there would be no way he would be invited to the NBA Combine let alone selected in the NBA Draft. But even though many expected Thompson to eventually return to school — Ohio State’s staff included — it was never a sure thing.
Thompson didn’t get an invite to the NBA Combine. What he did get, however, was an opportunity to educate himself on exactly what’s required to make it to the NBA — every college basketball player’s dream.
That, to him, was worth the decision to declare for the NBA Draft even though he wound up returning to school.
“I feel like people who say that it’s not worth it, they don’t really understand the amount of work it kind of shows you,” Thompson said Wednesday. “You can say, ‘Oh, I’m going to be ready for this.’ But once you actually do jump into that then it’s just a whole different ballgame with the amount of work, the intensity, the attention to detail and everything that it takes.
“Three-a-days every single day, it’s a lot of work and it really opened my eyes up to how much it really takes to do it.”
Thompson worked out three times a day for a month straight at a complex in his hometown of Indianapolis. He did not have any private individual workouts with NBA teams, but said there were “quite a few teams that came in and watched my workout group.”
He trained with former Michigan State star Denzel Valentine, former Indiana great Yogi Ferrell, former Wichita State point guard Fred VanVleet and others, and said the feedback he received from NBA personnel was invaluable for him, personally, as a player.
“The main thing I heard was just me being athletic, but showing more of my offensive game and being more of a defensive stopper and not picking up so many fouls,” Thompson said. “That was one thing that got pointed out was staying out of foul trouble and picking up silly fouls that takes me out of the game.”
Thompson said his Ohio State teammates supported him in his decision to leave the program for a month or so to pursue his dream of making it to the NBA. When he opted to return, it was like he never left.
Thompson also said those closest to him prepared him for the possibility of not being invited to the NBA Combine. And while he admitted he was upset he didn’t at least get a chance to go, the amount of knowledge he acquired from the entire process made everything worth it.
The hope now for Ohio State, of course, is Thompson benefits from that month he spent away from the program learning from and working with multiple people.
“I knew going into it that my goal was to get better, learn the process, learn the work that you have to put in that’s necessary to get yourself prepared for the combine and stuff like that,” Thompson said. “I definitely feel like going through all of that stuff lit a fire in me and made me realize how much work you need to put in just to even get yourself the opportunity to be ready for that.”
