Pitino schedules NBA Pro Day, says Cards have five first-round prospects

Kentucky and Louisville will host NBA Pro Days one day apart this year.

Louisville has scheduled a day for pro scouts to observe his Cardinals on campus on Oct. 7. Kentucky will hold its combine one day later.

Pitino told Scout.com on Wednesday that he might have “five potential, legitimate NBA first-round prospects on my team.”

Junior forward Deng Adel is the team’s most highly rated NBA prospect, but senior forward Anas Mahmoud, junior forward Ray Spalding, sophomore forward V.J. King, freshman center Malik Williams and freshman swingman Brian Bowen II also are attracting attention.

“I want them to have the pressure of being seen by a bunch of pro scouts at once and see how they perform under that microscope,” Pitino told Scout.com’s Evan Daniels.

This is the first time Louisville is hosting a Pro Day for NBA scouts, a practice started a few years ago by Kentucky Coach John Calipari and also recently adopted by Duke.

None of Louisville’s players are projected as first-round draft picks by CBSSports.com or NBADraft.net in recently compiled 2018 mock drafts. Four Kentucky players — freshmen Kevin Knox, Jarred Vanderbilt, Hamidou Diallo and Nick Richards — are listed as first-round picks by both services.

Louisville is ranked No. 6 nationally in CBSSports.com’s preseason poll. Kentucky is rated No. 7.

This story was originally published September 13, 2017 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Pitino schedules NBA Pro Day, says Cards have five first-round prospects."