NBA Summer League will be Shaedon Sharpe’s long-awaited return to competitive hoops

None-and-done, yet he’s still a “former University of Kentucky player”?

That has been a topic of debate since Shaedon Sharpe decided to keep his name in the NBA Draft without ever playing a game for the Wildcats.

Yet he went on to be the seventh overall pick and will be front-and-center late Thursday night (and/or super early Friday morning) when he is expected to make his NBA Las Vegas Summer League debut with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Whether it claims him or not, surely Big Blue Nation will be interested to see how he fares.

Sharpe and the Trail Blazers are scheduled to face the Detroit Pistons at midnight Eastern time in a matchup that will be televised on ESPN. That game will follow one featuring former Kentucky guard TyTy Washington, whose Houston Rockets will get the Vegas summer league schedule started at 10 p.m. Eastern against the Orlando Magic, also on ESPN.

Sharpe has missed competitive basketball. After joining the UK team at midseason and electing not to play essentially to protect his draft stock, he hasn’t played in an organized basketball game since last summer’s Nike Peach Jam.

“I wasn’t playing for about a year,” Sharpe said at his introductory news conference with the Trail Blazers. “I love to get out there and compete with the guys. So, I missed it a lot.”

Since then, Sharpe has signed his contract and been practicing with the team ahead of this week’s games.

“It’s been a minute since I’ve played five-on-five with refs and even fans,” Sharpe said Saturday, according to a news release by the Trail Blazers. ”I feel like I picked some things up quickly but most of the things we did, I’ve never heard the terminology of it. But it’s cool, new defenses and offenses.”

Portland has high hopes for Sharpe. The team was able to get him in for a pre-draft workout on June 15 and came away impressed — and a little bit worried that he might not be available at No. 7.

“He was our guy all along. … We thought there were a few teams ahead of us that there was a chance they could take him,” GM Joe Cronin said. “So, through those moments, those are the stressful/enjoyable parts of the draft where the unknown is so prevalent that you’re waiting and waiting. And then when you hear a certain name called and you know your guy gets to you, that creates that energy in that room. That celebration. That happiness.”

As for Sharpe’s pre-draft workout, Trail Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups said, “He had this really quiet confidence about him that I really loved. He was very, very competitive in the workout. I was impressed with his feet, defensively. I didn’t see those things on tape because he didn’t have to guard anybody in high school for the most part. …

“He has some things and some skills and some gifts that a lot of people in this entire world don’t have (that) he’s been blessed with.”

Jabari Walker, who was Portland’s second-round pick out of Colorado last month, had a glowing review after the team’s first summer league practice.

“I was just thinking, when I see him do some things I’m like, ‘He’s going to be a problem,’” Walker said. “He’s ready.”

There should be multiple opportunities to watch Sharpe play in Las Vegas.

In addition to the opener, the Trail Blazers will face the New Orleans Pelicans (10 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2), the New York Knicks (11 p.m. Monday on ESPN2) and the Rockets (9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 14, on NBA TV). The Las Vegas Summer league schedule for Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, is to be determined.

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