The Kentucky Wildcats basketball program has been known to churn out NBA talent. They’ve been such a staple program, this year’s NBA Draft could be the first time in 15 years that the Wildcats won’t have a first-round pick.
While John Calipari has done well to build programs and develop talent, most expected Kentucky's first season without him to feature a dip in talent from its typical standards. Even so, Mark Pope was able to lead the Wildcats to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The talent dip was real from an NBA perspective. Back in January, ESPN listed five total Kentucky players in the top 100 players for the 2025 NBA Draft. However, that seems to have oversold the Wildcats' draft potential.
Latest ESPN NBA mock draft isn't kind to the Kentucky Wildcats
According to ESPN’s latest mock draft, the Wildcats have just one player projected to get drafted: Koby Brea.
Brea is projected to be a late second round pick, anywhere from pick 53 to pick 56. Brea averaged 11.6 points per game this season off the bench for Kentucky. He had just 16 starts this year.
Unfortunately, it looks like Kentucky’s streak of having at least one player selected in the first round will come to an end.
Though Brea is the only one projected as of now, the Wildcats did have another player in Amari Williams who is on the cusp of being considered as a second-round selection as well. Williams was ranked No. 75 in ESPN’s top 100 NBA Draft bound players.
The other three players from Kentucky ranked inside the top 100 includes Jaxson Robinson at No. 78, Andrew Carr at No. 91 and Otega Oweh at No. 92.
Pope has a lot of work to do to fill in Calipari's shoes. That doesn't just mean winning and dominating in the NCAA Tournament. It also means becoming a recruiting machine and churning out NBA talent.