ESPN: Kentucky basketball freshman Shaedon Sharpe eligible for 2022 NBA draft
LEXINGTON — The Shaedon Sharpe watch just got a little more interesting.
Calls for the Kentucky basketball freshman guard to play this season after graduating high school early to enroll for the spring semester are only likely to grow after news broke Thursday that he is in fact eligible for the 2022 NBA draft. Like Hamidou Diallo did for Kentucky after enrolling for the spring 2017 semester, Sharpe could declare for the draft without playing in a game for UK.
ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony, who originally reported last fall that Sharpe would not be eligible for this year's draft because he graduated after the 2021-22 NBA season had started, reported an unnamed source had confirmed Sharpe could apply for early entry status to the draft in June. Givony previously ranked Sharpe as the No. 6 prospect for the 2023 draft.
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"Sharpe is considered a potential top-five pick in the 2022 NBA draft due to his combination of prototypical frame with dynamic shot-making and explosive finishing ability, regularly coming up with highlight-reel-caliber dunks, blocks and putbacks," Givony wrote.
Sharpe enrolled at UK early this month and has been practicing with the team but has not played in a game. UK coach John Calpari said shortly after Sharpe arrived "there has never been a plan to play him" this season.
The plan for Sharpe to only practice this season was presented as a strategy for preparing him to step into a starring role next season, but if he tests the draft waters this spring, he might not return for next season.
Diallo enrolled at UK in January 2017 and elected not to play while practicing with the team in the second half of the 2016-17 season. He then declared for the 2017 draft, waiting until just before midnight on deadline day to announce a return to Kentucky for the 2017-18 season. Diallo was considered a borderline first-round prospect at the time, unlike Sharpe, who could be a top-10 pick.
Sharpe's mentor and grassroots basketball coach, Dwayne Washington, previously told the Lexington Herald-Leader Sharpe was focused on playing for Kentucky next season.
"He will not be going to the NBA Draft,” Washington told the Herald-Leader in October. “That’s not even something to talk about. That’s like saying, ‘Are you going to go to Mars tomorrow?’”
Last week, Calipari joked he would make sure Sharpe was on the court for early warmups as an enticement for fans to arrive to Rupp Arena early for Kentucky's marquee matchup with Tennessee. Late in that blowout, Sharpe got up from the bench like he was going to check in before Calipari sent him back to the bench.
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There is not an obvious need for Sharpe to play for Kentucky right now with Calipari already tasked with finding enough minutes for four productive guards, but he is considered the best draft prospect on the roster. If he is able to quickly adjust to the college game, he could be a valuable weapon in March in the event of foul trouble or injury to one of UK's guards at the least.
"Pace of game, like a normal freshman, the speed, the intensity, the spirit of it, talking more, he's way behind in those areas," Calipari said last week. "But his skillset and what he does – and he's comfortable when you put him in different situations – he's good there.
"It's the most important stuff: the speed of the game, the aggressiveness of the game, how hard you have to play and talk. You can't take possessions off, you just can't. And so, he's learning all of that. And we'll learn it on the run."
Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Shaedon Sharpe could leave UK without playing
