Former North Laurel, UK basketball star Reed Sheppard makes NBA debut with Houston Rockets
While the next era of Kentucky men’s basketball began Wednesday night with a blowout exhibition win inside Rupp Arena, one of the brightest stars from UK’s recent past made his professional debut.
Reed Sheppard — the former North Laurel and UK star who was selected with the third overall pick in last summer’s NBA draft — played in his first regular season game with the Houston Rockets.
Playing at home inside Houston’s Toyota Center, Sheppard came off the bench for the Rockets during what became a 110-105 season-opening loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
Sheppard logged 16 minutes of playing time for Houston, scoring four points on 2-for-5 shooting from the field. Sheppard added two rebounds (one offensive and one defensive) along with three assists. He also had one block, three fouls and three turnovers, and the Rockets were outscored by six points when Sheppard was on the floor.
A former Kentucky Mr. Basketball winner at North Laurel in 2023, Sheppard averaged 12.5 points per game for the Wildcats last season. Sheppard shot 52.1% from 3-point range during his lone UK season, a mark that led all college players. He also took home National Association of Basketball Coaches National Freshman of the Year honors for the 2023-24 season.
Sheppard is the highest-drafted ex-UK player from the commonwealth in NBA history, and is considered a strong contender for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award this season. The only NBA Rookie of the Year ever produced by UK was Karl-Anthony Towns in 2016.
In addition to Sheppard, ex-UK guard Antonio Reeves made his NBA debut Wednesday night, although it was a brief one. Reeves — who played three college seasons at Illinois State and two seasons at UK — logged one minute for the New Orleans Pelicans in a 123-111 home win over the Chicago Bulls.
Despite only being on the floor for 60 seconds, Reeves managed to take, and miss, three shots. Two of those attempts were 3-pointers, which Reeves made 164 of during his time in Lexington. Reeves was a second-round pick in last summer’s draft.
Reeves could soon step into a larger role with the Pelicans, though. New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray fractured his left hand during Wednesday’s win over Chicago and will miss significant time.
Two other members of the 2023-24 Kentucky basketball team — Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards — didn’t play for their respective teams in their NBA season openers this week.
Dillingham, who was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves, didn’t play Tuesday night in Minnesota’s road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Edwards, who went undrafted this summer despite once being projected as a lottery pick when he arrived at UK, didn’t play Wednesday for his hometown Philadelphia 76ers in a home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 8:28 AM.
