After playing for Chicago in the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League and reaching a tentative agreement to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Bullsundrafted wing Donovan Atwell has committed to returning to college basketball for the 2026/27 season and stay with Texas Tech, the Red Raiders announced (via Twitter).
Atwell is one of many four-year college players who had been on track to sign a training camp contract with an NBA team before a Colorado district ruling created a path for those players to return to school for another year. That ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Denver, granted four-year college athletes from the high school class of 2022 a fifth year of eligibility for 2026/27, as long as they haven’t yet signed a professional contract.
It’s not certain that the ruling will hold up, with the NCAA fighting hard to reverse it. While there’s a plan in place to institute a “five-for-five” rule that will grant college players eligibility over five seasons once their clock begins, the NCAA wants to have that rule apply to players who enroll in college in the fall of 2027 rather than retroactively to athletes who had already exhausted their eligibility.
The NCAA has said it won’t give a blanket waiver to the class of 2022 and has asked the Tenth Circuit to reverse the preliminary injunction granted by Judge Sweeney (Twitter link).
Atwell played his senior season at Texas Tech after spending his first three seasons with UNC Greensboro. The 6’5″ shooting guard averaged 13.5 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting 45.8% from three on 8.4 attempts per game in 2025/26. He’s a career 41.5% shooter from long distance, as well as an 89.6% free throw shooter.
The left-handed Atwell, who turns 23 years old later this month, averaged 10.6 points while shooting 48.5% from beyond the arc in 19.5 minutes per game across five appearances for the Bulls in Las Vegas.