Icelandic center Tryggvi Hlinason is declaring for the 2018 NBA draft, a source told ESPN.
The 7-foot-1, 260-pound center had a breakout performance at last summer's Under-20 European Championship, averaging 16.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 33 minutes per game, helping his tiny country of 330,000 people to a historic top-eight finish. He later joined Iceland's senior national team at EuroBasket, and has played an important role during the FIBA World Cup qualification window over the course of the season.
Hlinason plays for EuroLeague team Valencia in Spain, where he has seen inconsistent minutes in his first season at the highest level of European basketball, totaling just 141 minutes in 22 games thus far.
A late bloomer who grew up herding sheep, gathering hay and driving snowmobiles in a remote, 900-person town -- as chronicled this summer by ESPN's Mike Schmitz -- Hlinason only started playing basketball at the age of 16. He has made rapid improvement since, showing impressive mobility and instincts to go along with his massive frame and 7-4 wingspan. He shows good potential as a rebounder, shot-blocker and lob-catcher, but is still at an early stage in his development, which has contributed to his lack of minutes for a Valencia team that hasn't shown much interest historically in developing young prospects.
He is currently rated the No. 75 prospect in the ESPN Top 100 and is considered a potential second-round pick by NBA teams. As a 1997-born international player, he will have one more opportunity to go through the NBA draft process in 2019 should he elect to withdraw his name at the early-entry deadline on June 11.
