How the NBA draft deadline could alter Kentucky’s roster plans for next season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Moreno expected to withdraw from the draft by the May 27 deadline to return to Kentucky.
- Kepnang was added to provide a veteran backup at the center position.
- Kentucky is tracking draft-withdrawal chatter around Graves and Momcilovic for 2026-27.
It’s already been an eventful Kentucky basketball offseason, with comings, goings and decisions to stay put reshaping the roster heading into Mark Pope’s third year as UK’s head coach.
Nearly two months into the offseason, however, the wait for complete clarity continues. The final word on the Cats’ roster situation for next season could be coming soon.
This week, the top prospects for the 2026 NBA draft are in Chicago to participate in the NBA Combine, and a few of those in attendance are UK players of interest as Pope puts the finishing touches on his 2026-27 roster, which could still use some additional star power to meet the Kentucky standard going into next season.
The Combine will wrap up Sunday, and players still on the fence between keeping their names in the draft and returning for another season of college basketball will have until May 27 to officially remove themselves from NBA consideration.
While some of those decisions could go down to the wire on deadline day, others are likely to announce their future plans as soon as this week. The final on-court activities at the Combine are scheduled to take place Thursday.
As of now, 11 players are confirmed for UK’s 2026-27 team, and that group is expected to arrive in Lexington at the beginning of June to prepare for the eight-week summer practice session.
Here’s a closer look at the players Kentucky is most interested in who are currently going through the NBA draft process as that May 27 deadline looms.
Malachi Moreno
In his video Q&A series with UK fans on social media last week, Pope made clear what was tops on his roster management to-do list this spring.
“Malachi Moreno was the No. 1 priority for us going into this portal season,” he said, adding that the Kentucky staff thinks the 19-year-old will be the best center in college basketball next season.
Of course, he’ll have to remain in college basketball for that to happen.
As Moreno has crept up the NBA draft boards over the past few weeks, fans have grown antsy that the Kentucky native might actually leave Lexington after just one season with the Cats.
Some prominent new mock drafts this week have Moreno approaching first-round territory, with Yahoo Sports putting him at No. 39 and ESPN pegging him at No. 43 following Sunday’s lottery draw. With buzz out of Chicago suggesting at least a few players in front of Moreno will pull out of the draft — possibly as soon as this week — that could get the 7-footer even closer to one of those first 30 picks.
A Yahoo report Monday that Moreno would not take part in 5-on-5 scrimmages at the Combine as some teams increasingly view him as a potential first-round selection — coupled with the recent UK commitment from veteran center Franck Kepnang — has intensified the angst in fan circles.
It’s important to note that, so far, this process has unfolded exactly as anticipated. From the start of the offseason, it was expected that Moreno would see the NBA process through to the end of the Combine and ultimately withdraw from the draft so he could return to Kentucky for his sophomore season.
Going into this week, that remains the expectation, even as his draft profile seemingly rises.
Much like Otega Oweh did last year, Moreno can go through this process knowing exactly what situation awaits him back in Lexington, where Pope and the UK staff see him as a featured player on the 2026-27 roster.
Kepnang’s addition was necessary to bolster the 5 position with a quality backup to Moreno, who would have been the only center on UK’s roster without that move. A tandem of Moreno and Kepnang, who made 25 starts and averaged 2.1 blocked shots in 22.9 minutes per game at Washington last season, should make for a formidable duo at the 5 spot, assuming the 24-year-old transfer can stay relatively healthy.
UK confirmed Monday that Kepnang has been granted a seventh year of NCAA eligibility due to a combination of medical redshirts and an extra season gained through playing in the COVID-impacted 2020-21 campaign.
Now, Pope and company are waiting on Moreno, who is expected to pull out of the draft at some point between now and that May 27 deadline. If he does that, Moreno will be the 12th player confirmed for next season’s roster.
Allen Graves
Of the trio of NBA hopefuls that have hit the transfer portal and been tied to Kentucky this spring, Santa Clara forward Allen Graves has the most draft buzz heading into Combine week.
Most of the prominent boards projected the 6-9 redshirt freshman as a first-round pick following Sunday’s lottery draw, with Yahoo (No. 16), The Ringer (No. 20), ESPN (No. 22) and CBS Sports (No. 24) all placing him within that range. The Athletic has Graves at No. 32 overall.
That kind of consensus projection would be difficult to walk away from, but Graves told the Herald-Leader during the NCAA Tournament that there were still plenty of aspects of his game that he felt were lacking, while speculation that he will pull out of the draft persists.
If Graves is available, he could fill a glaring need for Kentucky, which could use his skill set as a high-level shooter and passer at the 4 spot. The Cats expressed interest in his recruitment early in the process, and they’d be in the mix if he does pull out of the draft.
But LSU has been viewed as a potential favorite for weeks. Graves and his wife are both from Ponchatoula, Louisiana — a city that’s less than an hour drive from Baton Rouge — and Wade coached Graves’ older brother for three seasons at LSU.
If Graves does pull out of the draft, it would be met with initial excitement in UK fan circles, though there’s a good chance he could end up playing against the Cats next season if he does come back to college.
Milan Momcilovic
Further down on draft boards but likely No. 1 on most fans’ wish list, Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic would almost certainly end up as one of the highest-paid players in college basketball if he pulls out of the NBA draft this month.
Kentucky has already reached out to those representing Momcilovic, who led the NCAA in both 3-point percentage (48.7%) and 3-point makes (136) last season for the Cyclones, the team that eliminated the Cats from the NCAA Tournament.
So far, the 6-8 junior has remained completely focused on the draft process, but that’s expected to change soon. He’s one of the players who has been the focus of draft withdrawal chatter this week, and the most likely scenario seems to be that he will ultimately return for a fourth year in college basketball.
If Kentucky could retain Moreno and add Momcilovic, a potential starting lineup consisting of those two, the backcourt duo of Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins, as well as returning wing Kam Williams, would likely vault the Cats into a prominent spot on the preseason Top 25 lists.
If Momcilovic does indeed pull out of the draft, UK will have plenty of big-name competition for his commitment, though Pope should also have ample financial flexibility with this roster after missing out on top recruit Tyran Stokes (and others) earlier in the offseason.
None of the prominent mock drafts have Momcilovic as a first-rounder to start the week. ESPN, which places him at No. 35 overall, ranks him the highest of any of those major outlets.
Tounde Yessoufou
One of the final big names to hit the portal before last month’s deadline, Baylor freshman Tounde Yessoufou was a major UK recruiting target out of high school before committing to the Bears in the 2025 cycle, and the Cats have expressed interest once again this spring.
Yessoufou — a 6-5 guard from the West African country of Benin — would add some more of that star power that the current UK roster is lacking, and his athleticism, physicality and high upside on both sides of the ball would make him an intriguing candidate to move forward in Year 2 of college basketball.
But of the players on this list, he might be most likely to stay in the draft.
The Athletic, CBS Sports and Yahoo all projected him as a first-round pick in their post-lottery mock drafts, and there’s been more buzz in recent weeks suggesting he’ll go pro than there about which schools might lead in a potential transfer recruitment.
Yessoufou was not on any of the tentative 5-on-5 scrimmage rosters released by the NBA on Sunday — Graves and Momcilovic were absent from those lists, too, it’s worth noting — so it doesn’t look like he’ll go through that optional stage of the Combine this week.
He’s worth keeping tabs on in the coming days as a potential UK target, but more focus will be on others until Yessoufou makes his pro-or-college plans more clear.
