If Austin Daye is available for the Kings to select with the 23rd pick, someone might have lied to him.

He'd like a guarantee from a team that it would select him. Daye said he's heard he'll fall between 9-17.

The lanky small forward from Gonzaga hasn't hired an agent. Daye said he's "pretty dedicated to staying in" the draft with this caveat.

"I really don't want to fall into the 20s," Daye said after his workout Tuesday at the Golden State Warriors practice facility. "If that happens I'm probably going to go back to school, if that's what they're saying."

Daye spent two seasons at Gonzaga. At 6-10, 192 pounds, Daye sees himself creating matchup problems as a small forward or even a power forward like Rashard Lewis.

Daye just doesn't want to wait to be selected after the top-20 picks to show he can do that, even if it might mean going to a better team.

"If you fall to the 20s it could help you and it could hurt you," he said. "You could be buried so far down on the bench you might not get out of that hole."