Zyon Hawthorne will join his brother, Braydon, on the UK basketball team
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- UK basketball announces the addition of Zyon Hawthorne to its 2026-27 roster.
- Kentucky will field both Zyon and his older brother, Braydon, who redshirted last season.
- Mark Pope’s UK program now has nine players projected for its roster next season.
There’s a new player to know ahead of the 2026-27 Kentucky basketball season.
On Tuesday afternoon, Zyon Hawthorne — the younger brother of UK freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne — was announced as an addition to the Cats’ roster for next season.
A 6-foot-2 recruit in the 2026 high school class, Zyon played his final prep season at Huntington Prep in West Virginia. That’s the same school Braydon attended prior to committing to Mark Pope’s Kentucky program last year.
Zyon was not ranked as a prospect by the major recruiting services. During his college recruitment, Zyon reported scholarship offers from Radford, Arkansas State, Bethune-Cookman, La Salle and Wichita State.
Prior to playing at Huntington Prep, Zyon played for Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia. He also played travel basketball on the Puma PRO16/NXT circuit for West Virginia Gold.
Earlier Tuesday, Braydon officially announced he would be returning to Kentucky after redshirting the 2025-26 season at UK. Hawthorne previously told the Herald-Leader that he planned to be back in Lexington for his redshirt freshman season.
Pope now has nine projected players in place for next season’s squad.
The Hawthorne brothers join expected returnees Malachi Moreno, Kam Williams, Trent Noah and Reece Potter, along with transfer portal additions Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins and high school recruit Mason Williams.
Williams is a four-star recruit and a son of new UK assistant coach Mo Williams.
Kentucky still has up to six roster spots left for next season’s team. Pope is continuing to mine the NCAA transfer portal, high school and international recruiting pathways for players.
The transfer portal closes for new entries at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, but players can commit to a school anytime up to the start of the school year as long as they have entered the portal by that deadline.
