Willie Cauley-Stein is back. He’s falling in love with Lexington all over again
When it came time for Twany Beckham to fill out his roster of Kentucky basketball veterans for another run at $1 million this summer, there was no doubt about where to start.
Beckham, the general manager of La Familia — a band of (mostly) former UK players — put together a squad last year that made it all the way to the semifinals of the TBT, a winner-take-all, single-elimination, 64-team tournament with a $1 million bounty awarded to the champions.
Where to begin in this summer’s quest for that cash prize? It was a no-brainer.
“Willie was the first call that I made,” Beckham said.
One of those Wildcats who needs no last name as an identifier, Willie Cauley-Stein returned to Lexington last summer and ended up being a key player in La Familia’s TBT run.
He earned tournament-wide defensive most valuable player honors, delighting UK fans in Rupp Arena with the familiar sight of his gazelle-like gait down the floor and above-the-rim shot-blocking abilities. He threw down some dunks. He hit some 3s. He had a ball.
The experience meant even more to him away from the court.
“This whole thing changed his life outside of playing basketball,” Beckham said.
La Familia head coach Sean Woods interjected: “He’s fallen in love with Lexington.”
Fallen in love with Lexington all over again, more like it.
Cauley-Stein’s return to Kentucky — nine years after he nearly led the Cats to a perfect season and the 2015 national championship — was much more than a homecoming. It was a cathartic experience that even the player himself didn’t see coming.
While back in town last summer, he talked about how much his time here as a college player had meant to him. He reconnected with old friends and teammates. He spoke fondly of Lexington, telling folks he’d like to perhaps move his young family here. He re-enrolled in classes at UK, determined to finish his college degree.
A few weeks after that TBT run ended, Cauley-Stein opened up even more.
By that point, he was more than two years removed from his last appearance in the NBA — his 422nd and final regular-season game in the league — and he explained the backstory of how his once-blindingly-bright basketball career had derailed before he even turned 30.
Following the 2018-19 season, his best as a pro, three of his friends were shot — and one was killed — as they slept in a home he was still leasing in Sacramento while he prepared for his first season with the Golden State Warriors.
His mental health began to spiral, and he became dependent on painkillers.
His grandmother — the woman who raised him — was diagnosed with cancer. His production on the basketball court declined sharply. He played the first 18 games of the 2021-22 season with the Dallas Mavericks — his game bottoming out amid his personal struggles — and stepped away completely following his grandmother’s death that December.
A few days after suffering that loss, he checked into a rehabilitation center.
He played in the G League the following season, still hoping to work his way back into the NBA one day. He played in Italy after that. And then he returned to Lexington, not quite knowing what to expect last summer.
What he found then was an emotional overflow. So many friendly faces eager to welcome him home, from the UK officials he knew well back in the day to fans he’d never met but had impacted through his spirited play and singular personality that led so many to love him.
“It’s kind of settled down,” Cauley-Stein said this week. “You know, last year I hadn’t been back in seven, eight years, so it was crazy. For me, coming off going to rehab and trying to get back in the league — there was a lot of emotion in that. And I really needed that love, just for my own health. So coming back and kind of being involved in that love, and then staying with it, still showing up — like to go to school, come meet people, come do things — I’ve just been around it for a whole year.
“A lot of people have just been like, ‘Oh, I’ve seen you around!’ The honeymoon of that is gone. And it just feels like I live here. That’s how I feel, which is good. It’s not like a pressure thing now. It’s just like, ‘Come out here and be yourself.’ And people love it.”
Cauley-Stein is back in Lexington
The former Wildcat has indeed been something of a fixture in Lexington since last summer.
Cauley-Stein did enroll in classes at UK, taking on a full load the past two semesters. He wanted to take the summer off, but the basketball program’s longtime academic adviser, Michael Stone, told him to take at least one class in order to stay in school mode. So that’s what he did.
The plan is for Cauley-Stein to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communications sometime next year.
“I’m not in the NBA. I’m not hooping anymore. So I’m going to end up having to turn into, like, a businessman and really find other opportunities to make money,” he said. “And I think just having that degree gets you through some of those doors.”
He didn’t move his family to Lexington. Not yet, at least.
“I would love to come out here and set up shop,” Cauley-Stein said, beaming at the thought.
He and his wife, Kelsey, have a 5-year-old daughter, Kendrixx, and 2-year-old twin sons, Jaxx and Jett.
Asked what it was like dealing with twin 2-year-old boys, Cauley-Stein grinned.
“Let me tell you, man,” he said. “Them boys — they’ll get you there. They’ll take you there, for sure. But I love it, man. And they mix well together. One is super shy. One is super outgoing. So there’s a nice little yin yang there. And then my daughter is just a crazy instigator. She can just get them turned up and then leave.
“And it’s like, ‘Well, you did this, not them.’ But I love it. She’s fun.”
As he stood on the Craft Center practice court and talked about school and his kids and frequenting local sandwich shops, that personality that everyone fell in love with the first time around came pouring out of him.
A decade ago, Cauley-Stein was the go-to quote on one of Kentucky’s greatest teams ever.
He was part philosopher, part jokester — entertaining and insightful no matter the subject matter. He could be talking about basketball one minute and hot dogs the next. He always drew a crowd, and he never disappointed.
“He’s the face of our team,” said Beckham, a UK senior during Cauley-Stein’s freshman season. “He has a huge personality. We all know what he can do on the basketball court. He’s just a great steward of the program. He’s great to be around. He’s great to look up to.”
Once La Familia’s first practice began Monday afternoon, Cauley-Stein was back to business. He was running the floor, disrupting the ball, engaging in animated back and forths with the team’s coaching staff.
A win in the TBT opener Friday night would mean another game Sunday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum. A win there, and La Familia will be back in the building Tuesday night. Three more victories, and they’d be TBT champs, splitting $1 million among themselves.
That would be nice. And that’s certainly the goal. But there’s more to this than that.
Cauley-Stein likes the team that Beckham has put together. Former UK teammates Aaron and Andrew Harrison are back, much to his delight. Archie Goodwin, his fellow class of 2012 recruit, has joined this summer. DeAndre Liggins, who Cauley-Stein got to know during his NBA days, signed up, too. Doron Lamb, who helped lead the Cats to the 2012 national title — a few months before a teen-aged Cauley-Stein arrived on campus — is back.
“And a couple of the younger guys that are just, you know, going to be able to get active just off of being able to get active,” Cauley-Stein said, leaning down with a knowing smile on his face before erupting with laughter. “We’re all old compared to them.”
A month shy of his 32nd birthday, Cauley-Stein is now a grizzled basketball vet. He looks older than he did back in 2015. He’s lived through a lot since he left Lexington a decade ago.
But as he leaned down and laughed in that moment, there was the same twinkle in his eye and pitch in his voice that everyone who was around for his playing days gravitated toward whenever they got the chance.
Ten years later, Cauley-Stein is happy to be here. And while there’s much more to his life than basketball these days, putting on the blue and white again clearly means so much to him.
“To just get to be a part of it — it’s always a blessing, man.”
