Syracuse Basketball: Elijah Hughes faces uncertain future due to coronavirus

Syracuse basketball stud Elijah Hughes faces an uncertain future amid the coronavirus outbreak. Here are the details and what it could mean.

With the 2019-20 Syracuse basketball season officially in the books thanks to the novel coronavirus outbreak, we are all starting to look forward to the future.

One future that appears murky at this point is that of Elijah Hughes.

By all accounts, Hughes had a career year and a remarkable overall season. After being a third or fourth wheel on last year’s Syracuse squad, Hughes transformed into the conference’s leading scorer by season’s end.

Elijah was labeled a spot-up shooter in 2019 and in 2020 he showed all the different parts of his game. From ferocious blocks to high-flying dunks to getting to the rim whenever he pleased. It was really something to watch.

Hughes finished as a member of the first-team All-ACC squad and heck he even earned some votes in the ACC Player of the Year conversation.

This has led to speculation that perhaps Hughes believes the grass will be greener on the other side of the road in the NBA.

If you’ve been looking at the prominent NBA mock drafts over the last few months you’ve likely seen Elijah’s name firmly in the second round. Coming off of an incredible season with tangible NBA buzz, most expect him to leave the team this offseason.

Actually not so fast my friends.

Anyone who claims they know what Elijah Hughes is planning on doing this summer is a liar. That’s because there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty due to the novel coronavirus situation.

These are uncharted waters not just for sports but for the entire planet. With all the major sports entities getting canceled and postponed (including the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament), who knows what the NBA draft process is going to look like.

For instance, the NBA itself has suspended its operations for at least a month as it tries to figure out what the hell is going on. That means the entire calendar will be off at least a month if not more.

The NBA Combine usually takes place in May, but who knows if that is still on the table. NBA teams have told its players not to work out together, how can Hughes and other top-flight college basketball athletes expect to all congregate in one central location to work out in front of the 30 NBA teams? This also would indicate that private individual workouts/meetings with teams would also be off the table in the coming weeks/months.

This seems to be (hopefully) a once in a lifetime ordeal and at this point, everything is an unknown. Hughes could still forgo his final season of eligibility to jump to the next level, but with so much uncertainty there’s a very real chance Elijah Hughes simply chooses to return to the Orange to complete some unfinished business.