Malachi Moreno will return to Kentucky basketball after pulling out of NBA draft
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Malachi Moreno withdrew from this year’s NBA draft and will return to Kentucky.
- Moreno is the only regular starter returning from Kentucky’s 2025-26 team.
- Pope said Moreno was Kentucky’s No. 1 priority going into the portal season.
The No. 1 priority on Mark Pope’s offseason to-do list has been achieved.
Malachi Moreno announced Sunday night that he will return to the Kentucky men’s basketball team for the 2026-27 season after withdrawing from this year’s NBA draft.
Moreno — a 7-footer from Georgetown — emerged as UK’s starting center early in his freshman year and evolved into a potential NBA draft pick as his first season of college basketball progressed. He was viewed as a possible first-round selection in this year’s draft before removing his name from consideration.
The deadline for college players to pull out of the draft and retain their NCAA eligibility is Wednesday night.
Moreno’s return is a major offseason victory for Pope, who has built an intriguing roster for what could be a pivotal third year in charge of his alma mater but suffered a series of high-profile recruiting misses this spring, in addition to a wave of outgoing transfers from last season’s team.
While Moreno’s decision to play a second season at UK was the expected one back when his freshman year ended in March, the pro buzz surrounding the 19-year-old intensified in the weeks that followed his entry into the NBA draft pool.
As Moreno went through the predraft process, Pope did not shy away from the importance of bringing him back to Lexington for a second season with the Cats.
“Malachi Moreno was the No. 1 priority for us going into this portal season,” the UK coach said in a Q&A series with fans on social media earlier this month.
Widely projected as a second-round pick, at best, when he entered his name in the NBA draft, Moreno’s profile was raised considerably over the past few weeks. At the time of his withdrawal from the draft, Yahoo Sports projected him as the No. 23 overall pick this year, while one recent CBS Sports mock draft had him at No. 30 overall, the final selection in the first round.
Moreno opted out of scrimmages at the Combine but took part in his agency’s pro day event in Los Angeles a few days later. He also had private workouts and individual meetings with representatives from several NBA teams over the past couple of weeks.
Throughout the process, Moreno leaned on his older brother, former Eastern Kentucky basketball standout Michael Moreno, for guidance.
“It’s very important. He’s the one that kind of got me started on this journey,” the younger player said at the NBA Combine in Chicago. “And everybody says you kind of need a bad guy in this journey, somebody that’s willing to push you outside your comfort zone. And I feel like that’s kind of been who he is throughout this entire journey — just someone who’s always pushed me to be better. So I take his (advice) into account the majority of the time.”
Moreno will now be the only regular starter returning from last season’s Kentucky team, which finished with a disappointing 22-14 record after being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Iowa State in the second round.
As a freshman, he started 30 of 36 games for the Cats, averaging 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots per game, leading the team in the latter two categories. He’s also been praised for his passing ability and court vision, traits that Pope will lean on next season.
All of the other regular starters from Kentucky’s 2025-26 team will be gone.
Otega Oweh is out of NCAA eligibility and projected as a second-round pick in next month’s draft. Denzel Aberdeen transferred back to Florida, where he played the first three years of his college career and will hope for an NCAA waiver to play a fifth season in college basketball.
Collin Chandler transferred to BYU this spring, and Andrija Jelavic, who started 20 games for the Cats, transferred to Ohio State last month. Pope also lost several other rotation players to transfer: Mouhamed Dioubate (LSU), Jaland Lowe (Georgetown), Brandon Garrison (Alabama) and Jasper Johnson (Oregon), while missing out on high-profile targets such as Tyran Stokes (Kansas), Rob Wright (BYU) and Donnie Freeman (St. John’s).
Moreno rejoins a UK team with few familiar faces.
Kam Williams, who started seven games for the Cats but missed much of the SEC schedule due to a foot injury, is back and should be one of the team’s top contributors next season. Trent Noah returns for his third season with Kentucky, which also retained Braydon Hawthorne and Reece Potter, a couple of players who sat out last season as redshirts.
As the roster currently stands, the starting five could consist of Williams on the wing, Moreno at the 5, transfer guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the backcourt, and international forward Ousmane N’Diaye, who will be 22 years old when the 2026-27 season begins and most recently played in Italy’s top professional league.
Other offseason additions include James Madison forward Justin McBride, another potential starter at the 4 spot, as well as veteran center Franck Kepnang, former Washington State guard Jerone Morton and high school guards Mason Williams and Zyon Hawthorne.
Moreno said at the Combine that he had been keeping close tabs on Pope’s offseason roster-building efforts and noted that he had played the role of player “host” on some of the recruiting visits to Lexington before the NBA process ramped up.
“I’ve definitely kept up, seeing the team that they built. I think it’s pretty solid. I think it looks really well,” Moreno said in Chicago. “I think I would fit with a lot of guys that are there, as well.”
Even with Moreno back, Kentucky is not widely projected as a Top 25 in the early preseason rankings from the most prominent national outlets. That could change in the coming days, however, with the Cats still pursuing former Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic, a potential addition that could vault UK into top-15 status going into next season.
During NBA Combine week, Moreno also acknowledged the angst around Kentucky’s offseason to that point, with those high-profile recruiting misses leading to criticism of Pope and worry over the outlook for the program’s immediate future.
“Yeah, I mean, being at Kentucky, it’s like a double-edged sword,” Moreno said. “Like, they’re going to love what they see, but they’re also not going to like what they see. And I think you just have to kind of accept both of those factors. You can’t please everybody. But I really do think that with the team that they have, I really think that — if the best opportunity is for me to go back — I think we could really make some noise.”
This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 9:34 PM.
