Rawle Alkins is weighing his options, return to the school and fans he so loves to play for or dive in and hire an NBA agent.

The 24th date of no return is coming up for our last Wildcat testing the NBA waters in May. Rawle Alkins is deciding whether he will stay a student or dive into 2017 NBA Draft. He hasn’t pulled the trigger yet like his teammate Chance Comanche, and he hasn’t hired an agent. But we wanted to compare Rawle’s play and persona to others who are projected to go in the first round, “if” he were to hire an agent.

Comanche was skewered by his “fans” in Tucson after his announcement. His family feels pretty confident, but the fans and “experts” not so much. Maybe folks are forgetting his 7-foot-2 wingspan, his 7-foot stature, the way he seemed to get to the basket when other bigs couldn’t, how he played defense, how fast he can transition for a big, or his versatility? Some NBA teams feel it’s worth a tryout, so time will tell.

For whatever reason or reasons, Comanche’s family feels this is the right time for him to leave as a sophomore. It could just be that Miller could not promise to start Chance, and maybe things would never be better for him than this post-season. The fact is none of us know the exact circumstance.

In contrast, Rawle is taking a little more time. Rawle seems to be in a better situation, honestly. Not only has he received a ticket to the NBA Combine, but he also is working out today with the Oklahoma City Thunder who has the 21st pick overall. Yes, that’s a first round pick.

First off, Alkins, who started in 36 of the 37 games he played in, showed how well he could play along with NBA Draft first-round prospects before he got to Tucson. He is the ultimate team player, and in this game he was extremely efficient from the three-point line.

OKC also has a G-League team, the Oklahoma City Blue, team Kaleb Tarczewski played for before moving to Europe. For those of you who are not well versed yet in how the NBA is changing through it’s new CBA and endorsement deals, the D-League has morphed into the G-League, the G stands for Gatorade who is a new partner.

The G-League has added these new contracts called two-way contracts. That means any player who signs a two-way contract can play on both the NBA team and the G-League affiliate and transfer back and forth. The G-League plans on all 30 teams to have an affiliate.

These contracts can pay five times what the old max contracts were, which was somewhere between $19K to $25K. This will draw the American Europe players back to America. Their agents are already lining up possible teams.

But let’s put the G-League aside, for now, let’s talk about Pac-12 All-Freshmen Team member Rawle Alkins.

The NBA teams are looking for potential, skills. Athleticism, fit in their organization, and personality. How committed and tenacious is a player? Is this player a winner? Can he be coached and will he learn? Is he mature? Does he have the size needed to play with the big boys? Does he have a great attitude? Team player and motivator? Can he take contact? Does he give up on plays? Is he a potential leader? Did he play for a coach who got him ready for the NBA? A game changer?

Check, check, check, check, check….you can check those boxes for humble Alkins who lets his play speak for itself. How many of you were praying Rawle would come back into the game in the second round of the playoffs after injuring his finger? Thinking that it was every single Wildcats fan.

When teams meet with Alkins, they will find a very mature, calm, confident, mamba-like-win-at-all-costs player. His 240-pound, 6-foot-5 stature, his huge smile, his basketball intellect, you just want to pinch his cheeks until you see him play on the court. Then you just want to high-five and high-ten everyone around you each time he turns a game around.

Game-changer, both Alkins and Kadeem Allen proved to be game-changers last season along with Allonzo Trier who is staying at Arizona but would have declared if he played a whole season we surmise.

Here are his averages from the season: