Photo by Chet White | UK Athletics
This has already been an interesting offseason for Kentucky fans with the delayed NBA draft decisions and fans are getting their hopes up that a super team will take the court in Lexington next season.
PJ Washington became the first NBA draft domino to fall after he announced that he is declaring for the NBA draft on Tuesday. However, Washington is expected to return to Kentucky next season and he didn’t hire an agent.
As for where Washington could land in the draft, ESPN has him as the 47th overall draft prospect, nowhere close to the first round selection he and his family are looking for. He has until May 30th to remove his name.
The two that are expected to leave are Kevin Knox and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Both have already pulled surprises with SGA delaying his decision until next week and the comments from Kevin Knox Sr. has the Big Blue Nation buzzing about what could be next season.
Both are widely considered to be lottery selections if they declare for the draft. Knox’s highest projection is No. 11 by NBAdraft.net and his lowest is No. 14 by ESPN. CBS Sports spots him in between those two numbers with Gary Parrish projecting Knox at No. 12 and Reid Forgrave at No. 13.
While Knox is projected to land in the late picks of the lottery, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is receiving projections that push him into the top ten. Reid Forgrave of CBS Sports projects SGA at No. 7 overall while Gary Parrish of CBS has him at No. 17. Meanwhile, NBAdraft.net and ESPN have SGA at No. 12.
In addition to Washington, Knox, and SGA, Hamidou Diallo and Jarred Vanderbilt are the only other players that are showing up in NBA draft projections. Reid Forgrave of CBS Sports has Diallo as high as No. 19 but the consensus is he’s a second-round selection. ESPN places him in at No. 35 and NBAdraft.net isn’t far behind at No. 39. As for Jarred Vanderbilt, Forgrave places him at No. 26 while ESPN has him at No. 64, outside of the 60 NBA draft selections.
I fully expect Washington and Vanderbilt to return to Kentucky next season. There’s just not enough security in their projections for them to leave. Diallo is an interesting situation because he can only go through the combine and withdraw his name one final time after he tested the waters last spring. Look for an announcement from him sometime this week because I received word that he met with John Calipari on Tuesday. SGA and Knox are tossups but it would be an absolute shocker if either returned but I’d say Knox is the most likely returner of the two.
