Purdue senior-to-be guard/forward Nojel Eastern will enter his name in the NBA Draft, GoldandBlack.com has learned.

The Boilermaker veteran and Big Ten All-Defense team pick can retain his final season of eligibility should he opt to withdraw his name before midnight June 3, the NCAA's deadline for those who've declared for the NBA draft to return to college.

Eastern previously declared for the draft after his freshman season and returned. Players are allowed to go through the draft process twice before renouncing their ability to return to college.

Caleb Swanigan and Carsen Edwards each exercised their right to declare and return early in their Purdue careers before eventually departing school early, and JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, A.J. Hammons, Vincent Edwards and Isaac Haas are others who declared for the draft and ultimately returned.

Should Eastern keep his name in the draft and opt to pursue professional opportunities, Purdue would have lost both Its seniors for next season. Center Matt Haarms has transferred to BYU.

One of the top defensive players in the Big Ten, if not college basketball, Eastern averaged 4.9 points, four rebounds and a team-best 2.7 assists per game as a junior.

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