Emmanuel Mudiay Reportedly Won't Attend 2015 NBA Draft Combine

Top 2015 NBA draft point guard prospect Emmanuel Mudiay will reportedly decline his invitation to the predraft combine in Chicago.

Shams Charania of RealGM provided the details on Monday:

After emerging as 247Sports' No. 2 overall prospect coming out of high school and the best point guard in the country, Mudiay committed to SMU but backed out and played professionally in China this past year. ESPN.com draft expert Chad Ford has Mudiay behind only Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke star Jahlil Okafor on his big board.

Former NBA star Stephon Marbury had kind words to say about Mudiay, per the New York Post's Marc Berman:

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He's got his own style—fast. He's got a little bit of everybody's game. What I like about him is he can jump and he's big, too, a big guard, more of a tweener. He can't really shoot that well right now, but he's got point guard skills, sees the floor really well. He's definitely an NBA player. The question that teams want to know is if he'll be impactful for the organization before they invest the top pick. I gave him advice—stay on the right path.

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The combine is slated for May 12-17 and is a great opportunity for the elite players to show off their skills in front of NBA talent evaluators.   

Mudiay is a remarkable athlete, so it's a bit of a surprise to not see him capitalize on the opportunity, especially since he didn't play stateside last season.

Depending on how the lottery falls, there is at least a slight chance Mudiay could be the No. 1 overall pick in this draft. A breakout freshman season from Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell presents Mudiay with real competition to be the first guard chosen, though.

Russell isn't the athlete Mudiay is, but he does have superior vision on the court and is definitely a better shooter. Teams can work out Mudiay privately leading up to the draft, but showing his competitive fire at the combine couldn't have hurt his stock.