John Calipari was at 2024 NBA draft to support Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard in first round

Kentucky basketball has added two more names to its already lengthy list of NBA draft lottery picks Wednesday night.

One-and-done phenoms Ron Dillingham and Reed Sheppard both came off the board early in the first round Wednesday during the first day of the 2024 NBA draft.

Sheppard was taken third overall by the Houston Rockets and Dillingham was selected eighth overall by the San Antonio Spurs, although he is being traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

And Kentucky’s former basketball coach was on hand for the occasion.

Former UK head coach John Calipari (now at Arkansas) — who coached Dillingham and Sheppard last season, the final of his 15 seasons in Lexington — was at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, to watch Dillingham and Sheppard have their big NBA draft moments.

ESPN cameras caught Calipari at Sheppard’s draft table prior to the event.

Calipari’s plans to attend the first round of the draft were made clear earlier Wednesday, when the now Arkansas head coach made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN.

Calipari then posted photos on social media with both Dillingham and Sheppard ahead of their big nights.

Kentucky’s former basketball coach also posted a photo on social media with the Sarr family: Oldest son Olivier played at Wake Forest and Kentucky and is now with the NBA’s Oklahoma City franchise, while youngest son Alexandre was selected No. 2 overall in Wednesday’s draft by the Washington Wizards.

John Calipari adds final marks to NBA draft success at Kentucky

John Calipari’s 15-season run at Kentucky was synonymous with producing NBA draft selections.

Including Wednesday night, a total of 47 former Wildcats who played for Calipari have been selected in the NBA draft. This includes a trio of No. 1 overall picks (John Wall in 2010, Anthony Davis in 2012 and Karl-Anthony Towns in 2015).

This doesn’t include two players who were at Kentucky and went on to be drafted, but never played in a game for the Wildcats (Enes Kanter Freedom and Shaedon Sharpe).

It also doesn’t include Terrence Clarke, who was an honorary selection by the NBA in the 2021 draft following his death in a car accident.

With Dillingham and Sheppard both being lottery selections in the 2024 NBA draft, Kentucky has continued a streak of having at least one player taken in the first round in each of the last 15 drafts. This is the longest streak in the modern draft era (since 1966).

Calpari’s legacy at Kentucky doesn’t just stop at producing NBA draft picks, though, as plenty of those players have also gone on to win NBA championships and MVP awards, as well as be named NBA All-Stars and All-NBA First-Team selections.

Current UK basketball coach Mark Pope’s NBA draft history, though, is a blank slate.

None of the players that Pope coached at either of his two previous head coaching stops — Utah Valley (2015-2019) and BYU (2019-2024) — have been selected in the NBA draft.

One of the cornerstone pieces of Pope’s first UK roster was a fringe NBA draft prospect this year, though: Fifth-year guard Jaxson Robinson was viewed as a late second-round prospect in this year’s NBA draft, before he opted to pull his name out of the draft and transfer from BYU (where he spent the last two seasons playing for Pope) to Kentucky.

On Tuesday afternoon, during his first media-only press conference since arriving in Lexington, Pope discussed the importance of the NBA draft to Kentucky basketball.

“We’re super excited about the draft. We’ve got five guys eligible for this draft and there’s going to be some more history made with Kentucky basketball in the NBA draft,” Pope said. “We’re super excited for these young men and what they contributed here, what they’re going to do in the future.”

“This tradition at Kentucky of having great players come here, hang banners, then go play in the NBA is part of what makes this place so special,” Pope added.

On Wednesday morning, Pope was in Lexington as part of the festivities as a Kentucky alumni team in The Basketball Tournament was announced.

Including Wednesday night, Kentucky has had 140 players selected all-time in the NBA draft, including 62 players taken in the opening round. These 62 first-round picks are more than any other college program.

This story was originally published June 26, 2024 at 8:09 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

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Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription