After an All-SEC season at Missouri where he averaged 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 38.8% from 3-point range, four-year college player Mark Mitchell entered the NBA draft process. After going undrafted, he played for the Nuggets at Summer League and was set to head to their training camp on an Exhibit 10 deal (which includes a bonus to join the Nuggets G League team).
Instead, he has re-enrolled at Missouri — a surprise as he was expected to transfer to Kentucky — and is looking to play a disputed fifth college season, a story broken by Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 and confirmed by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, who spoke to Mitchell’s agent.
Ultimately, Mitchell’s fate will be in the hands of judges. He is one of more than 25 four-year men’s college basketball players who agreed to non-guaranteed NBA contracts but now could be eligible to return to college for a fifth season after a judge’s ruling. In the wake of the NCAA’s new “five-for-five” rule for college sports, some players in last year’s class who used up their eligibility under the old rules but were not grandfathered into the new one went to court. There have been a host of court rulings on this,, for Mitchell it is Colorado-based U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granting four-year college athletes from the high school class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility (if they had not signed a professional contract). The NCAA has appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn the ruling. Also, the SEC is fighting the return of players in this situation (right now, that is more focused on football).
For Mitchell, this is the smart financial play. The standard G-League contract paid $45,000 last season, and Mitchell would get an Exhibit 10 bonus for going through camp with the Nuggets (up to $85,000, but likely less). That is far less than his NIL contract with Missouri or any major college.
If the ruling permitting players to return is allowed to stand, there will be a lot more players following this path in the coming weeks.
