Ayo Dosunmu declares for 2020 NBA Draft

After an All-Big Ten First Team sophomore season, Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu has declared for the 2020 NBA Draft via his Twitter.

The Chicago native made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon roughly one week after reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year and teammate Kofi Cockburn declared that he would be testing the NBA waters.

Dosunmu led the Illini in scoring for the second straight season at 16.6 points per game — good enough for fifth in the Big Ten — and also led the team in assists. The sophomore entered the season as a potential lottery pick, but saw his stock dip a bit with questions surrounding his shooting stroke.

The 6-foot-5 guard came up huge for the Illini down the stretch on multiple occasions this season and was on track to lead the Illini to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013. Season accolades include Big Ten Player of the Week (Feb. 24), Jay Bilas Co-National Player of the Week (Jan. 27), and a selection to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Team.

From our own Matt O’Neall’s player review of Dosunmu just two days ago:

Ayo has not yet announced a decision about his intentions for his playing future, but I fully expect him to test the waters, impress during the pre-draft process and go to the NBA. As fans, we all want to see him back. If he played his junior year at Illinois, the Illini would be a preseason top-10 team and preseason Big Ten favorites. But he’s already given this program so much. He finished his business, and fulfilled his promises.

Ayo Dosunmu should be a first round draft pick. Some smart, winning, successful franchise is going to scoop him up in the second round and NBA fans, writers and coaches are going to be saying “Where did this Ayo guy come from?!?!?” But don’t worry, we’ll know. And we’ll tell them:

He came from the University of Illinois.

He sits anywhere from early to late second round in most NBA mock drafts and will have until June 3rd to pull his name out of the draft.

The Illini currently sit at one open scholarship, but two more could free up if Cockburn and Dosunmu decide to keep their names in the draft.

This is a breaking story and we’ll be adding more over the coming hours.