Caleb "Biggie" Swanigan would have never made it to Purdue without his adoptive father, Roosevelt Barnes, alongside him.

And now, as the the Fort Wayne, Ind., power forward announced Wednesday that he was leaving West Lafayette for the challenging terrain that is the NBA, the man who helped him overcome obesity and gave him a home is guiding him into the world of professional basketball.

Barnes emphasized to the Exponent that Swanigan's decision to stay in the draft was made just today. He was torn between testing his game at the next level and wanting to finish his degree, Barnes said. Swanigan is a general education major and he will continue to take online classes over the summer as he prepares for the NBA.

“It was a very close, tough decision for him,” Barnes said Wednesday night. “He was very close to coming back to school because he wants to get his degree.”

Of course, basketball also played a huge role in his decision. According to Barnes, seeing his teammates Isaac Haas and Vincent Edwards forgo the draft and return for their senior seasons made the choice even more difficult.

“He felt like they had a chance to win a national championship,” Barnes said.

But in the end, the challenge of testing his talents in the NBA was just too alluring. And that challenge will be a big one, Barnes said, but he knows Swanigan is more than capable of meeting it.

“He’s just scratching the surface of how good he’s going to be,” he said. “So I’m proud of where he is, but I know he can be so much better.”

Most mock drafts have Swanigan going early in the second round, but Barnes does not see it that way.

“I think he’s going higher than the second round. I think he’s going in the first round,” he said, after just getting off the phone with the Sacramento Kings. The interest from around the league has been widespread, with about 15 teams interested in the 6-foot-8-inch rebounding workhorse.

We won’t know until Swanigan’s name is called on June 22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“We are also happy that Caleb will be able to achieve his goal of getting drafted by an NBA franchise,” head coach Matt Painter said in a press release. “He has set forth on this path for a long time and we are thrilled that he will be able to realize his dream. We wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in the process.”

Swanigan will be Purdue's first early entrant in the NBA Draft since Glenn Robinson in 1994.