Did Lacey Leave Door Open to Return to State?

NC State fans were crushed by the news that broke this afternoon that their leader and top scorer Trevor Lacey was declaring for the NBA draft. The rising senior was poised to be the catalyst for a team that many believed would open the 2015/16 season ranked in the top 15 nationally. Obviously there were a lot of broken hearts that dealt with the news in different ways. Some were angry, some were hurt, while others were happy that he would be chasing his dream of playing in the NBA, but all of them just couldn’t help but think it was just par for the course for the Wolfpack who seemingly have been so close to breaking through, but have fallen just short due to a number of different peculiar circumstances.

But there were still a lot of questions. Was Lacey just set on leaving no matter what? And if so, why? Sure he’s 24 years old, but it seems as if his career has just hit it’s stride and he was on his way to peaking. As we outlined in our post season assessment of Lacey, he was great in many areas, but had room to grow. He played this season at a higher weight than he would have liked, he was still rounding into form as a vocal leader, and he could still improve has ability to score on the drive to keep defenders from committing to stopping his pull up. Lacey is an elite player, but he’s not a finished product. This is why the news that he was ‘declaring’ for the NBA was tough to understand. But maybe it was a matter of semantics that had Pack fans so perplexed.

Lacey reportedly told PackPride that he wasn’t necessarily gone for good. Here is their tweet:

NC State guard @TrevorLacey5 says that he hasn’t signed with an agent. He could test NBA waters and return like CJ Leslie did after soph yr.

— Pack Pride (@PackPride) April 15, 2015

Now this doesn’t mean he’s coming back, but it does make a lot more sense. While the report was that he declared for the NBA, this new break in the story seems to imply that he did not file paper work with the NBA officially declaring. Had he done that he would have not been able to return. By not filing that paperwork and by not hiring an agent Lacey keeps himself eligible through late April (26th or 29th…can’t find the exact date). This gives him time to get information from scouts, work out for teams and figure out where he’d slot in the draft.

(However if he DID file paper work and officially declared, then he is confused about rules and he’s officially gone…and if that’s the case you can stop reading now.)

Right now many projections have him going undrafted, which means he’d have to catch on as a free agent or sign a deal overseas. But I don’t think this is where he should settle. We’re talking about one of the deadliest iso players in the college game. A guy that is close to peaking, but hasn’t yet reached his full potential. This kid has 1st round talent, but there are too many questions surrounding him. The reason for that is the real Trevor Lacey has only been seen for one year. His two years at Alabama did not go as planned and then the transfer year off had him out of sight and out of mind for many NBA scouts. He had quite the showing this past season, but there were some stretches where he was going through adjustments and were marked down as flaws in his game. As good as he was this season, I think it was a learning year for him and the potential for a full on break out is in the cards should he return.

With the news that he’s keeping the door open, it seems as if it will come down to his workouts and what the scouts have to say. While I think he could leave and make a living in this game, I also think he’d be selling his talents short.  Giving it one more year, leading a team that will be in the national spotlight could certainly allow him to answer those critics and really cash out on top.