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Nojel Eastern, Carsen Edwards on their NBA exploration processes

More ($): Painter supportive of players testing NBA stock

Purdue's off-season program has begun, even though it can't even fill a game of five-on-five with active players.

At least half of next season's team has yet to enroll.

Then, there are the cases of guards Carsen Edwards and Nojel Eastern, Purdue's projected starting backcourt next season.

Though the two are in very different places in their careers — Edwards a sophomore All-American and Eastern a freshman backup — they're in the same position: Both have declared for the NBA draft, without agents, with decisions on whether or not to return to college needed in advance of the May 30 withdrawal deadline.

While neither prospect is likely to find much in the way certainty when it comes to their draft prospect, at this point, they will keep their eyes wide open and ears at full attention these next month-and-a-half, knowing full well their time may not be now, but understanding that now might affect later.

"I just want to get the best evaluation from the best people at the highest level," Eastern said.

Eastern said he's hopeful he'll receive input he can apply to his work regimen this summer, expecting, he said, to hear about his jump-shooting mechanics, for one thing.

He said he and his family did take into consideration the fact that the NBA's collective bargaining agreement bars players from withdrawing from the draft more than twice, an imbalance with the NCAA's newly changed rule allowing for players to return to college an unlimited number of times. But, he said, he and his family still decided to declare now.

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Edwards, as a sophomore, had no reason to consider such things.

And, his performance this past season made the move something of a formality.

While Edwards, as is generally his tack with such things, said over and over he'd take the process "day to day" when determining his next move and said, "I honestly look at it like I'm a long way from being at that level, so I'll keep working," he did elaborate on what he hopes to show himself to franchises as.

"That I'm a dog, that I'll fight, that I'm going to play every game," Edwards said. "That's one thing I want them to know, that I'm coachable, that I'll listen to them and take everything they say and (use it), but that I'm going to go hard every day."

Eastern and Edwards join a long list of players who've declared for the draft with remaining eligibility during Painter's time at Purdue. From that list — JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, A.J. Hammons, Caleb Swanigan (twice), Vincent Edwards and Isaac Haas — only Swanigan left Purdue with remaining eligibility, and he did so after previously going through the process and returning.

In the cases of Moore and Johnson, though, they had a significantly shorter runway to make their decision back prior to the rule changed in 2016 to allow for much more time.

"We've had a positive experience with players doing this," Painter said this week.

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