Kentucky’s Skal Labissiere to enter NBA Draft, hire agent

Freshman Skal Labissiere came to Kentucky billed as the heir apparent to big men Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns. Although he failed to match their productivity, star power and on-court presence, he will follow their example.

Instead of one shining moment, it’s one fleeting moment for another UK big man. Labissiere announced Tuesday that he will enter the 2016 NBA Draft. He plans to sign with an agent, which will end his career at Kentucky.

“I want to thank my family, my coaches, teammates and most importantly I want to thank God for the opportunity that he gave me to represent and play for the University of Kentucky,” Labissiere said in a statement released by UK. “I also want to thank the fans for their support through everything this season.”

“Everything” covered a lot of ground as Labissiere’s journey from ballyhooed prospect to struggling freshman generated plenty of headlines.

Before the season, UK players and Coach John Calipari said nothing to blunt the assumption that Labissiere would be the next standout big man. That made one-and-done players DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel, Davis and Towns as the means of measuring Labissiere.

Or, as Derek Willis said when asked at media day about Labissiere’s impact, “His part will be just like any of the centers we’ve had.”

On June 4, Calipari himself likened Labissiere to Kentucky’s dominant big men of recent seasons.

“Probably like Karl and Anthony, we’ve got to get him to understand and establish yourself here,” Calipari said. “Then do all the other stuff.”

As a prospect, Labissiere made a first impression that caused Calipari to think of two of the most impressive big men of his coaching career. He said he saw Labissiere as a nimble big man with guard skills. Like Davis and Marcus Camby.

Warning signs came early and often that Big Blue Nation needed to reassess Labissiere and give him time to develop.

By the time of UK’s media day, Calipari was backing off the comparison to Towns, the program’s star of stars the season before and the presumed role model for Labissiere.

Towns had “a fight in him,” Calipari said. “Skal’s not there yet. ... Skal’s got to get more of a fight. His skill level and all that is off the charts.”

Towns learned to compete in practices against teammates Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson. Labissiere didn’t have that luxury.

Further slowing Labissiere’s development was missing his final two seasons on the high school level: a back injury as a junior and being ruled ineligible as a senior “probably didn’t help him,” Calipari said in a bit of understatement.

The season’s third game was a sobering experience. Calipari had to bench Labissiere and put in another freshman, Isaac Humphries, to compete with Duke’s Marshall Plumlee.

Len Elmore, a former All-America big man at Maryland, said he was “flabbergasted” by Labissiere’s lack of fundamentals.

At UCLA two weeks later, teammate Tyler Ulis’ get-with-it shove highlighted how much Labissiere had to improve.

ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said Labissiere’s fall from expected stud to basketball novice was like a team losing a star player to injury.

Although Calipari acknowledged early that Labissiere was not Shaquille O’Neal, Kentucky turned to the freshman again and again to become a low-post presence. Ultimately, Labissiere averaged 6.6 points and 3.1 rebounds. Those numbers, although modest, compare favorably to those of another first-rounder from Kentucky: Daniel Orton, who averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in the 2009-10 season.

In October, DraftExpress.com saw Labissiere as the first player taken in the 2016 NBA Draft. NBADraft.net and ESPN draft analyst Chad Ford projected Labissiere as the second player taken.

“Skal’s going to be in the mix for the No. 1 pick,” Ford said last fall.

Labissiere remains widely projected as a first-round pick. But there’s no more talk about a No. 1 pick. His range is anywhere from the 10th pick (DraftExpress.com) to the 18th (Sports Illustrated).

“No one saw this happening,” said longtime recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer of 247Sports.com. “The NBA was drooling over him at the Hoop Summit.”

Labissiere becomes the second freshman from the 2015-16 team to enter this year’s draft. Guard Jamal Murray announced last week that he would leave UK.

Labissiere and Murray become the 17th and 18th freshmen to leave UK for the NBA Draft in Calipari’s seven seasons as coach.

Ulis, a sophomore point guard, is expected to make a decision about the draft as soon as Wednesday.

“I couldn’t be more proud of a player and the way Skal handled himself on our campus this season,” Calipari said of Labissiere in a statement. “He was a great student, a great teammate and I’m so proud of the way he handled himself in the community. He is one of the greatest kids I’ve ever coached. On the basketball court, it took him and our staff a while to figure out how to best utilize him, but his improvement on that court over the year is why he is in this position to put his name in the draft and be projected in the middle of the lottery. His future is out ahead of him, and I think in time he will be in the same breath as all of our big guys who have performed well in the NBA.”

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Kentucky’s Skal Labissiere to enter NBA Draft, hire agent."