2024 NBA Draft: Houston's Jamal Shead declares after All-American season with Cougars

Shead is heading to the NBA Draft after shining as one of college basketball's top point guards

By David Cobb Apr 11, 2024 at 12:25 pm ET• 2 min read

Houston star Jamal Shead will forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility and enter the NBA Draft, he announced Thursday. The 6-foot-1 point guard earned First Team All-America honors from CBS Sports in the 2023-24 season while leading the Cougars to a Big 12 regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"I feel like it's my time to move on and go chase my dreams a little bit," Shead told KPRC, Houston's NBC affiliate. "These have been some of the best four years of my life with the best people I've met in my life, with family that have embraced me with love. It was a big decision. Me and my family and coach talked over it, and I feel like right now is just that time."

Shead is not a lock to be selected in the first round, but he had little left to prove after playing a key role for Houston over the past four seasons. After coming off the bench as a freshman, Shead started 106 games over the past three seasons and blossomed into one of the country's top point guards.