Princeton guard Xaivian Lee is withdrawing his name from consideration in the 2024 NBA Draft, opting to return to college for a third season, ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported Wednesday.
The Toronto native had originally declared for the draft in early April, testing the waters to see if there was interest from NBA teams, but was still able to maintain his college eligibility.
He took part in the G League Elite Camp during the draft process, scrimmaging with other top prospects to earn a spot in the NBA Draft Combine.
Lee, 20, was a standout player with the Tigers in his sophomore season, averaging a team-leading 17.1 points a game, good for fourth-most in the Ivy League. He also grabbed 5.7 rebounds and dished out 3.7 assists per game.
His big second-year jump earned him a unanimous selection to the All-Ivy first team alongside teammate Caden Pierce, who won the Ivy League Player of the Year.
The Tigers finished first in the regular season with a 24-5 record (12-2 in conference play) but were knocked out by Brown in the first round of the Ivy League tournament. As a result, they did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
In the 2022-23 season, Lee came off the bench averaging 4.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists and helped No. 15 seed Princeton make a Cinderella run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament, taking down Arizona and Missouri in the process.
The 20-year-old played high school basketball at the Crescent School in Toronto before transferring to Perkiomen School in Pennsylvania.
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