NBA early entries number 108, including 12 high schoolers

NEW YORK -- Utah center Andrew Bogut and four members of North Carolina's NCAA championship team highlight the list of 108 players who filed as early entry candidates for the NBA Draft.

Of the 73 U.S. players who made themselves eligible for the June 28 draft, 12 are high school seniors.

Two of the three eligible members of the Associated Press' All-America team also submitted their letters by May 14, the NBA announced Thursday.

Chris Paul of Wake Forest joined Bogut, but Duke's J.J. Redick will return to school for his senior season. Wayne Simien of Kansas and Syracuse's Hakim Warrick were seniors.

NBA commissioner David Stern is seeking to have the minimum age for playing in the NBA raised to 20 in a new collective bargaining agreement with the players association. Current rules mandate a U.S. player's high school class must have graduated before he can become draft eligible, while foreign-born players must turn 18 before the draft.

Union director Billy Hunter has said he is philosophically opposed to raising the minimum age, though he said he'd agree to a change if the league offered something substantial in return.

The collective bargaining agreement expires June 30, and the league sounds unwilling to return to the bargaining table soon. If no new agreement is reached, a lockout could begin as early as July 1 -- three days after the draft.

Bogut is expected to be -- at the very least -- a lottery pick and possibly the first player chosen overall. Sean May, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Rashad McCants, who helped North Carolina to a national championship victory over Illinois in April are also available -- leaving the Tar Heels without their top seven scorers from this past season.

The players have the right to withdraw their names from the list by notifying the NBA by June 21, one week before the draft is held in Madison Square Garden.

Any college players who have not signed with an agent can return to their school and not lose their eligibility.

Thirty-five international players were on the list.