Chaundee Brown is leaving Wake Forest’s basketball team to enter the NBA draft process and, if he maintains his eligibility and returns to college, he plans to enter the transfer portal and play his final season elsewhere, a source said Wednesday. 

Brown, a rising senior, confirmed the news later Wednesday evening with a tweet declaring his intention to enter the NBA draft process — whatever that may look like amid the COVID-19 outbreak — and maintain his eligibility and enter the transfer portal. 

Last week, Coach Danny Manning told the Journal that he would encourage juniors Olivier Sarr and Brown to enter the NBA draft process and seek feedback from teams. 

Brown is poised to become the fifth player in the last four years to leave Wake Forest before his senior season, along with Dinos Mitoglou, Bryant Crawford, Doral Moore and Keyshawn Woods. 

The 6-5, 220-pound Brown is the third player to leave Wake Forest since the end of the season.  Previously, sophomore guards Sharone Wright Jr. and Michael Wynn entered the transfer portal. 

Wake Forest has added one graduate transfer, Ian DuBose from Houston Baptist.  With Brown’s departure, the Deacons will have two open scholarships to fill. 

Brown’s junior season was up and down, due partly to injuries.  He missed practicing last summer because of knee surgery.  In November, Brown suffered an ankle injury in practice and missed one game, and then appeared hobbled in the following five games — during which his scoring average dipped from 15.8 points to 11.0.