Florida State PG Xavier Rathan-Mayes declares for 2017 NBA Draft

A day after seeing teammate Dwayne Bacon declare for the NBA Draft, Xavier Rathan-Mayes has decided to follow suit. XRM, a member of FSU’s 2013 recruiting class is foregoing his final season of eligibility. He was a combo guard out of Huntington Prep (WV), where he teamed up with NBA star Andrew Wiggins. Once in Tallahassee, the Canadian top-30 recruit took an academic redshirt his freshman year, before becoming a 3-year starter for Florida State—he was a shooting guard his RS Freshman season; point guard the following two seasons.

The transition from shooting guard to point guard is a difficult one, but XRM made the most of it, becoming FSU’s floor general over the last two years. He became a much more efficient shooter, while cutting his turnover rate nearly in half (he sported a 2.6 AST/TO ratio this past season). Many will remember him for the 30 points in 4:38 vs. Miami his first season, but the selflessness of transitioning from number one scorer to primary distributor while becoming a plus defender (some coaches/analysts called X “the best on-ball defender in the ACC”) and leading FSU to one of the best regular seasons in program history will be the highlight of his 4-year stay in my mind. Xavier Rathan-Mayes is also in rare company, as both he and his father, Tharon Mayes, scored over 1,000 career points during their Seminole careers.

Here’s what he had to say to ’Nole fans:

Finally, I’ve seen many people saying X isn’t ready for the NBA. Just because he declared for the NBA Draft, doesn’t mean it’s his only option. There are many opportunities to make a good living playing basketball overseas.