Another Clemson basketball player turning pro

Clemson forward David Skara will not return for his senior season and will instead pursue a professional basketball career, head coach Brad Brownell announced in a press release on Wednesday.

Skara will graduate in May with a degree in economics.

The redshirt junior averaged 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game this past season while playing nearly 20 minutes per game. He was arguably Clemson's top defender.

“I’d like to thank David for his contributions to our program over the last two seasons,” Brownell said. “He had a big impact on this program in his time in Clemson and played a crucial role in this team advancing to the Sweet 16. We’re proud of David for graduating from Clemson come May and for how hard he has worked to put himself in this position.”

Skara started seven games last season and saw his role increase after forward Donte Grantham was lost for the year with a torn ACL.

Grantham and starting guard Gabe DeVoe are graduating and will not be back, while guards Marcquise Reed and Shelton Mitchell have declared for the NBA draft but have not hired agents. Reed and Mitchell could opt to return to school.

"I can’t thank Coach Brownell, my teammates, the coaching staff and everyone in Clemson enough for making my experience here a great one,” Skara said. "I represented the University with great pride while I was a student and I always will the rest of my life. This team has been very special to me and I will always cherish our run to the Sweet 16 this year! Now that I’ll be graduating in May, I’ve decided that it is in my best interest to pursue my life-long goal of playing professional basketball.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2018 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Another Clemson basketball player turning pro."