Otega Oweh’s stellar two-year Kentucky career leads to an NBA draft selection
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- Former Oklahoma and Kentucky basketball player Otega Oweh is taken in 2026 NBA draft.
- Oweh was selected with the 41st overall pick in the NBA draft by the Miami Heat.
- While Oweh was drafted by Miami, he is heading to Oklahoma City as part of a trade.
One of the standout success stories from Mark Pope’s two seasons as the Kentucky basketball coach is moving on to the NBA.
On Wednesday night, former Oklahoma and Kentucky basketball player Otega Oweh was selected by the Miami Heat with the 41st overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft, which is being held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Oweh will be heading to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a trade. With the Thunder, Oweh will join ex-Cats Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason Wallace. The Thunder won the 2025 NBA championship and reached the Western Conference finals this past season.
Last month, Oweh told the Herald-Leader the Thunder were the first team with which he’d personally met.
Oweh played four college seasons, splitting his time evenly between the Sooners and Wildcats. But it was Oweh’s two-year run under Pope’s guidance at Kentucky that set him on the path toward being an NBA draft selection.
Oweh scored 1,255 points during his two seasons in Lexington, which are the most-ever points for a UK player who played just two seasons for the program. He led UK in scoring during both the 2024-25 (16.2 points) and 2025-26 seasons (18.6).
When Oweh transferred from Oklahoma to Kentucky ahead of the 2024-25 season, he was coming off a season in which he averaged 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 assist per game as a starter for the Sooners. He enjoyed increased playing time and production, especially on the offensive end, during his time with the Cats while developing into a two-way talent.
Oweh led Kentucky in minutes played during both the 2024-25 (28.3 minutes) and 2025-26 seasons (32.8). He played in all 72 Kentucky games over the past two seasons. Oweh — who scored at least 10 points in 68 of his 72 career contests with the Cats — provided the highlight moment of the 2025-26 season when he made a halfcourt heave to beat the regulation buzzer and send Kentucky’s eventual NCAA Tournament first-round win over Santa Clara into overtime.
“I enjoyed my last two years. It was amazing. Coming to Kentucky changed my life,” Oweh told the Herald-Leader last month at the NBA Combine in Chicago. “So I hope the fans remember me for just going out there and giving it my all every single game.”
Oweh — who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in communication from UK — went through the NBA draft process in 2025, before opting to withdraw from last year’s draft and return to Lexington for his senior season.
Oweh is the 145th player from Kentucky to be selected in the NBA draft. He is the second UK player taken in this year’s draft following Jayden Quaintance, who was selected with the 20th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs during Tuesday night’s first round.
Kentucky has now produced multiple NBA draft picks in 17 consecutive seasons. That’s the longest streak of any program in the country.
Oweh is the fourth player to be selected in the NBA draft after playing for Pope at Kentucky, joining Quaintance and a pair of second-round selections from the 2025 NBA draft, Koby Brea and Amari Williams.
Including both Oweh and Quaintance, a total of 11 SEC players were selected in the 2026 NBA draft.
In the first round, Quaintance was joined by Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. (No. 7 overall), Tennessee forward Nate Ament (No. 13), Texas guard/forward Dailyn Swain (No. 15) and Alabama guard Labaron Philon Jr. (No. 22).
Acuff was taken by Sacramento. Ament was selected by Miami, but he’s heading to Milwaukee as part of the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. Swain was picked by Chicago and Philon was chosen by Philadelphia.
In the second round, Oweh was joined by Arkansas guard Meleek Thomas (No. 34), Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile (No. 35), Tennessee guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie (No. 42), Tennessee forward Felix Okpara (No. 46) and Vanderbilt forward Tyler Nickel (No. 47).
Thomas was picked by Sacramento, but is being traded to Cleveland. Brazile was chosen by San Antonio, but he’s being traded to Denver. Gillespie was also taken by the Spurs. Okpara was selected by Orlando, but he’s being traded to Washington. Nickel was picked by Phoenix, but is also on the move to the reigning champion New York Knicks.
Several other notable selections were made in the 2026 NBA draft.
Louisville guard Mikel Brown Jr. was taken with the No. 6 overall pick by Brooklyn. Another U of L player, Ryan Conwell, was taken with the No. 37 pick by Oklahoma City, but he’s being traded to Miami.
Richie Saunders, a guard who played for Pope at BYU and nearly followed the coach to Kentucky, was taken with the No. 32 overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies. This means Pope has now helped produce five NBA draft selections as a college head coach.
Bryce Hopkins, who began his career at Kentucky before playing three seasons at Providence and one season at St. John’s, was taken 49th overall by Denver. Another ex-Cat, big man Ugonna Onyenso, was the No. 53 overall pick and will begin his pro career in Detroit.
This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 9:09 PM.
