NBA Combine invite 'just another rung on the ladder' for Kevin Knox

Kentucky’s leading scorer last season, Kevin Knox, has been invited to participate in the NBA Combine next month, the player’s father said Sunday.

Earlier this month, UK Coach John Calipari had said that getting an invitation to the Combine sent a message about credibility as an NBA Draft prospect. Various mock drafts project Knox as a late lottery selection.

The NBA Combine is scheduled for May 16-20 in Chicago. The NBA Draft is June 21 in Brooklyn.

"It's just another rung on the ladder," the player's father, also named Kevin, said. "The ultimate goal and vision is really to be drafted high, obviously, as high as possible. This is just really a byproduct of the decision made earlier."

Knox will not play in games at the NBA Combine, his father said. He will do interviews, agility tests and measurements.

There are five other UK players who entered their names in this year’s NBA Draft. Those are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo, PJ Washington, Wenyen Gabriel and Jarred Vanderbilt. Only Gilgeous-Alexander and Diallo said they, like, Knox, planned to hire an agent, thus eliminating the chance to play for Kentucky next season.

Knox’s father had said that his son’s decision to enter this year’s NBA Draft had been weighed carefully.

“We went through the pros and cons,” the player’s father said of the decision to follow the one-and-done route. “There were a lot more pros for the NBA than there was for Kentucky. But the pros that were for Kentucky, man, those are some tough pros to overcome.

“He really enjoyed the stage. He enjoyed the coaching, his teammates, the fans. Those four things, you just can’t beat that.”

Knox led UK in scoring (15.6 per game) and three-point baskets (57). He scored double-digit points in all but seven games, and scored 20 or more points in a team-high 10 games.

Every leading scorer during Calipari’s nine seasons as coach as entered the NBA Draft. All but sophomore Aaron Harrison in 2015 were freshmen. The other seven were John Wall (2010), Brandon Knight (2011), Anthony Davis (2012), Archie Goodwin (2013), Julius Randle (2014), Jamal Murray (2016) and Malik Monk (2017).

Knox scored 576 this past season, which made him one of the top 10 scorers among freshman for Kentucky.

The Southeastern Conference coaches named Knox a co-Freshman of the Year in the league.

This story was originally published April 29, 2018 at 9:13 PM with the headline "NBA Combine invite 'just another rung on the ladder' for Kevin Knox."