There's been a lot of talk about whether players should stay in college or decide to pursue their dreams in the NBA. Unfortunately for fans who like the NBA, the harsh reality nowadays is that unless you're a lottery pick and almost guaranteed to make it to a second contract, which hardly any players are outside of a few stars anyway, it's probably better to stay in college and get paid NIL money.
Some suggest that high-level college basketball players make about $3 million per year, and that could be the case for Duke's Patrick Ngongba. Ngongba is one of the better players in the country, though some seem to believe that he's ready to hit the NBA and enter the draft.
Despite that reality, others think it would be in his best interest to stay in college and continue getting paid, but also developing.
“Ngongba’s situation is a bit different from the others on this list because of the injury component. The 6-foot-11 big man suffered a stress fracture in his right foot late in the season, causing him to miss five games and play limited minutes once he returned in the NCAA Tournament. Ngongba, unfortunately, has a history of injuries, too, missing most of his senior year of high school with a right foot injury and sustaining a left foot injury during the 2025 summer.
“There’s still a month until the NBA Draft Combine, but if Ngongba isn’t able to work out there — or be fully himself — it could very well influence his draft decision. When healthy, though, Ngongba was one of the breakout sophomores in the sport this season, anchoring Duke’s top-five defense and serving as a high-post offensive initiator. Opponents scored 8.4 fewer points per 100 possessions when Ngongba was on the floor, per CBB Analytics, in large part because of his growth as a shot blocker. But Ngongba is arguably more intriguing on the offensive end, where Duke used him as a high-post passer to unlock its five-out offense,” Brendan Marks of The Athletic wrote.
There are a few different ways to look at what makes sense for a player in this era. On the one hand, money speaks.
These young men have talents that deserve to get them paid, and the market is the market. Whenever they can get the most money, we can never knock somebody for going that route.
On the other hand, there has to be a development factor, and somebody like Ngongba could do well by staying in college for an extra season and developing a bit more.