Antonio Reeves is returning to college. But he might not be coming back to Kentucky.

A key member of last season’s Kentucky team will return for one more year of college basketball.

But he might not be playing in Lexington.

Senior guard Antonio Reeves — the Wildcats’ leading backcourt scorer during his first year with the program — will pull his name out of the NBA Draft and come back to school, though he has not confirmed that he will return to UK for his final season of NCAA eligibility.

Reeves could still move to another school for the 2023-24 season as a graduate transfer, but he would need to complete his degree at Kentucky before he could do that and be granted automatic eligibility. If he doesn’t finish his degree this summer, he could also transfer and attempt to get a waiver from the NCAA to play right away. Or he could play one more season at UK.

There is no firm timetable for his final decision, but Wednesday was the last day for college players to pull out of the NBA Draft and retain their NCAA eligibility. Reeves has not yet made a public declaration regarding his future plans. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein first reported that he would remove his name from the draft and be back in college.

Reeves, a transfer from Illinois State last offseason, averaged 14.4 points per game and shot 39.8 percent from three-point range during the 2022-23 season. He was second on UK’s team in scoring behind Oscar Tshiebwe and led the squad in both three-point percentage and made three-pointers. His 80 threes in 34 games were tops for the Cats by a wide margin. Freshman Cason Wallace was next with 44 threes, and fellow senior CJ Fredrick (with 34 threes) was the only other player on Kentucky’s team with more than 18 makes from long range.

The 22-year-old Reeves was also one of only two Wildcats — along with freshman forward Chris Livingston — to play in all 34 of the team’s games this past season, a campaign that was ravaged by injuries.

Reeves totaled 40 points over his first two games as a Wildcat — while Tshiebwe, the returning national player of the year, was out with injury — but was relatively inconsistent for several weeks after that.

The 6-foot-5 guard ended up being one of the few bright spots in UK’s 78-52 loss at Alabama on Jan. 27, tallying 20 points in 21 minutes that day, the start of eight consecutive games of double-digit scoring. Reeves tallied at least 10 points in 15 of Kentucky’s final 17 games to close out the regular season, culminating in a 37-point performance to lead the Cats, who were playing without both of their point guards, to an upset victory at Arkansas.

In the postseason, Reeves had 22 points in each of Kentucky’s first two games — a Southeastern Conference Tournament loss to Vanderbilt and a victory over Providence in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Two days after that came the low point of his season, a 1-for-15 performance in UK’s loss to Kansas State. He missed his first 14 shots (and first nine three-point attempts) in that one before making a three with six seconds left in the 75-69 defeat.

Reeves shot 41.4 percent from three-point range for the season before that game.

The four-year college player entered his name in the NBA Draft and was an invitee to the G League Elite Camp in Chicago, but an uneven showing there did not result in an invitation to the NBA Combine, a bad sign for Reeves’ draft prospects this year.

Instead, he’ll return to college basketball for one more season in hopes of boosting his NBA status for 2024.

Reeves is eligible for a fifth year of college basketball due to the NCAA’s decision to grant all players who competed during the COVID-19-impacted 2020-21 season an additional year. Since he’s already transferred once, he would not be able to transfer a second time and retain automatic eligibility for next season, unless he graduates from college first. He did not graduate with his fellow UK seniors in May, but it’s possible he could have enough credits to move on by the end of the summer, if that’s what he decides to do.

Kentucky or somewhere else?

Reeves’ return would be a major plus for the Wildcats’ 2023-24 outlook.

The veteran guard could provide an experienced presence within a program that will once again endure major offseason turnover. As of now, UK has only seven confirmed scholarship players for next season. Those include five freshmen — the components of John Calipari’s latest No. 1-ranked recruiting class — as well as sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero, who both played limited minutes in their first season with the program.

UK will also return veteran walk-on Brennan Canada, who has not played much during his four-year college career but emerged as a key practice player and was put on scholarship at the end of last season.

The Cats are still waiting on a final decision from Livingston, while Tshiebwe announced earlier Wednesday that he would be staying in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Calipari and his coaching staff are also continuing to explore the transfer portal for possible additions.

Obviously, getting back the leading perimeter scorer and top three-point shooter from last season would be key for the Cats, who shouldn’t lack for talent in the backcourt but could go into the 2023-24 campaign with questions regarding their long-range shooting.

Incoming guards DJ Wagner, Robert Dillingham and Reed Sheppard have all shown an ability to make shots from deep as high school players, but Wagner and Dillingham, specifically, bring a track record as streaky shooters, as does fellow top-10 prospect Justin Edwards, a small forward. And there’s never a guarantee that a recruit’s three-point shooting talent will immediately translate to the college level, making Reeves’ proven ability in that area a major need for UK’s roster.

Reeves also has the reputation as an even-keeled, unflappable player on the court, a trait that could provide a calming presence for a team that is likely to rely heavily on inexperienced freshmen.

While a talented, three-level shotmaker, Reeves does have limitations on defense. He acknowledged those shortcomings when he arrived in Lexington last year — as did UK’s coaches — and, by all accounts, made strides as a defender during his first season with the Wildcats.

Still, there were lapses on that end of the court — Calipari basically benched him during a win over Florida in February due to constantly getting beat on backdoor cuts — and, if he returns, Reeves will be tasked with continued improvement defensively for a team that projects to have plenty of length and athleticism elsewhere on the perimeter.

But whatever his defensive drawbacks, Reeves’ other talents — along with his experience of playing major minutes for Calipari; a rarity on the 2023-24 roster — should keep him on the court plenty in his final season of college basketball.

If he ultimately decides to move on from Kentucky and play his final season of college elsewhere, his departure would leave another major hole on a roster that is still in flux more than two months into the offseason.

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