Maryland basketball’s Melo Trimble will declare for 2017 NBA Draft and hire agent

Melo Trimble’s Maryland basketball career is over.

The guard will declare the 2017 NBA Draft and hire an agent, the school announced Wednesday after multiple outlets reported the news. InsideMDSports’ Jeff Ermann was first.

This was Trimble’s third go-round with the draft. He declared last offseason, only to pull his name out at the last second after receiving negative reviews from scouts. Trimble debated for a few days after his freshman season ended before deciding he’d come back and join a star-studded group in College Park.

In his third year with the program, Trimble played an even bigger role than he did in his first two seasons. He averaged a career-high 17 points per game, but finished with career lows in win shares (6.2) and true shooting percentage (56 percent).

In Maryland’s final home game on March 4, Trimble hit a buzzer-beating three to give the Terps a win. At the time, it appeared to be a fitting ending to his career. Now we know that it is.

Here’s what Trimble had to say in a school release:

“I am confident and excited to pursue an opportunity to play in the NBA,” Trimble said. “I am proud of what my teammates and I were able to accomplish these past three seasons at Maryland. I developed many great relationships and friendships and together we able to create some very special moments for Maryland basketball. I want to thank Coach Turgeon for all of his support. He always believed in me. He challenged me and really helped in the development of my overall game. I am a more complete basketball player because of Coach Turgeon and the coaching staff. To stay at home and attend the University of Maryland is the best decision that I ever made and it was truly special to play in front of my family, friends and our amazing fans. Maryland will always be home.”

Trimble deciding to hire an agent means he can’t return to Maryland.

Trimble could have put off this decision until after he went to the combine by deciding not to hire an agent, but he’s elected not to wait that long. The new rules say underclassmen can stay in the draft through the combine in May, but Trimble would have had to stay in school and deal with finals, classes and other distractions. Hiring an agent and focusing on his professional career will enable him to make the best out of the opportunity he has right now, though it does give him fewer options.

Trimble was projected as a late-first round or early-second round pick when he declared after his sophomore season, but isn’t projected to be drafted in DraftExpress’s most recent mock draft.

“Melo will be celebrated as one of the all-time greats in our program’s history,” head coach Mark Turgeon said in the release. “We are very excited for Melo as he pursues his dream of playing professional basketball.”