With the month of August about to start, the college basketball recruitment circuit is still surprisingly a race for all of the blue chip programs amid rumors that Marvin Bagley III is filing for 2017 reclassification. With this news breaking, teams around the country are most definitely excited over the mere thought of grabbing one of the best players in the nation a year earlier than anticipated.

The news was first reported by Evan Daniels of scout.com, citing that “Bagley has filed the necessary paperwork with the NCAAs eligibility center to potentially reclassify from the 2018 to 2017 class, per multiple sources.” Bagley brings an elite mix of skills that is widely sought-after in today’s versatile basketball scheme.

Bagley began playing at Corona Del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona during his freshman year and then moved to Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix during his sophomore year. It wasn’t until 2016 that Bagley transferred to Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, California. Bagley has been a highly coveted power forward prospect for college and NBA scouting circles since his freshman year of high school. At 6’11 and 220 pounds, Bagley fits the “point-forward” mold that many up-and-coming NBA prospects possess, with a knack to take on point guard duties, shoot spot-up three pointers, along with the size and agility to play and defend multiple positions. Bagley was just seen playing in a Drew League game with NBA superstar Demar Derozan.

His skills and top-tier athleticism aren’t a real concern for teams. The real question is will future NBA prospects follow Bagley’s footsteps and expedite their NBA dreams?

Daniels later writes in his article that Bagley filing paperwork to the NCAA “doesn’t guarantee that Bagley will be cleared for the 2017 class, just that he’s asking the NCAA to review and evaluate his academic standing to potentially do so.” Even with the news breaking that he has filed paperwork to reclassify, the chances of Bagley becoming part of the 2018 class is still slim. Regardless, there is still a small probability that we will see Bagley in college next season and teams around the country have already scheduled visits with him.

Bagley recently completed visits with Duke and USC, and has future outings to UCLA and Arizona scheduled. The interest with Duke and USC is something to take note of. Bagley’s father is from Durham, North Carolina, and Sierra Canyon is also a 30-minute drive from USC and UCLA. Bagley is also a Phoenix native, so this has to raise questions of whether or not he is considering geographical ties and discussing recruitment with the connections he has with all of these schools. USC has gone the extra mile by giving Bagley and his two younger brothers a scholarship offer already. As of now, reports have Bagley committing to Duke, but this timeline remains fluid and will be heavily dependent on how his reclassification case will go.

The 2018 recruiting class still has a wide-range of talent that should not be slept on regardless of Bagley’s potential reclassification. Dunk mixtape phenom, Zion Williamson, along with the likes of Cameron Reddish, Bol Bol, and Shareef O’Neal provide plenty for fans, coaches, and NBA front office exectuvies to look forward to for the coming years.

The college basketball season is still months away with teams in the midst of finalizing their rosters for the upcoming season with the ultimate goal to win it all in the Big Dance. No team will complain if they were able to get their hands on Bagley’s unique skillset, and it will be interesting to see how his reclassification case will go and what it means for the future of recruiting circuits.

If Bagley were to end up reclassifying into the 2017 college basketball season, we could start seeing a trend in the future for other elite NBA prospects attempting to accelerate their one-and-done process. Bagley is highly touted as one of the best NBA talents in years, and he could very well go number one in the 2018 NBA draft with the likes of Michael Porter Jr., Luka Doncic, and Deandre Ayton, among others. The 2018 draft is already proving to be very top-heavy and it continues to look stronger with the potential addition of Bagley into the mix.