MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia forward Sagaba Konate has signed with BDA Sports Management, an NBA certified agency that lists DeAndre Ayton — last season’s No. 1 overall pick — as a client.
The agency listed Konate as a client through it’s official Twitter page.
The move allows Konate to stay in line with NCAA regulations, which would allow the 6-foot-8 shot blocker to return to school as late as June 24, if he were to go undrafted in the NBA Draft on June 20 and severed all ties with the agency.
What isn’t clear at the moment is whether or not Konate has been invited to the 2019 NBA Combine, which is scheduled for May 15-19 in Chicago.
Sources at West Virginia said they hadn’t heard if Konate had received an invitation. BDA Sports Management did not return a message seeking comment.
Early lists of combine invites did not include Konate’s name, but the NBA does not release its official list until early May.
Konate was invited to the combine last year after declaring for the draft as a sophomore, but he ultimately decided to return for his junior season.
That season was not an ideal one for Konate, who had surgery on his right knee following the combine and then entered the next season still working to recover.
He played in just eight games and averaged 13.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
Konate did display an ability to shoot from the outside. He went 9 of 23 from 3-point range after never having attempted one over his first two seasons.
Konate also became West Virginia’s all-time shot blocker. His seven blocks against Pitt on Dec. 8 gave him 191 for his career, but he then sat out the team’s final 27 games.
Note
Walk-on guard Taevon Horton has left the team and plans to transfer.
Horton, a former Fairmont Senior standout who was the West Virginia Player of the Year in 2018, played in 11 games as a freshman and scored 10 points. He earned one start, which came against Texas on Jan. 5.
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