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WARREN -- Warren G. Harding product Derek Culver announced he is declaring for the NBA draft on Tuesday.
Culver, who played collegiately at West Virginia University, made the announcement via social media.
"I have taken stock of my college experience and am now undergoing the difficult decision to plan my future," he said in the post. "I have elected to forgo my senior year and currently explore my professional options, which was a difficult decision that I did not take lightly."
Culver, a 6-foot-10 junior forward at West Virginia, averaged 14.3 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game last season and had a 47.8 field-goal percentage.
Culver also was a standout at Harding, scoring exactly 1,000 career points -- the third most since the school consolidated with Warren Western Reserve. His 692 rebounds are second all time. He did that despite missing a large portion of his senior year.
"It is a long process for an athlete to turn professional. For those blessed with the opportunity to play as scholarship athletes, it is difficult to leave our adoptive college family. I tried to articulate earlier that i had not officially announced my intentions publicly to leave school and that reports of me doing so were unconfirmed. I refuted those claims as I felt it unfair for those who have supported me over the years to hear it from other sources before hearing it from me directly.
"Now I would like to state on my terms that I am officially declaring for the NBA Draft and have signed with Athletes Sports Management (ASM). I want to take this time to thank my family, teammates and coaches for all the years of support. I am looking forward to this next chapter."
The NBA Draft is set for July 29.