Willie Cauley-Stein returns to Kentucky one last time before calling it a career
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Willie Cauley-Stein will play his final organized basketball in this summer's TBT.
- Cauley-Stein frequently spoke about golf, citing it as a recovery outlet and passion.
- He hopes to move his family to Lexington by November and grow golf content.
Just like old times, when Willie Cauley-Stein emerged from a backroom in the Joe Craft Center and stepped onto the Kentucky basketball practice floor, the video cameras and audio recorders quickly flocked in his direction.
Just like old times, when Cauley-Stein started talking, those assembled listened intently.
And just like old times, when Cauley-Stein really got rolling, the questions and conversation turned to things other than basketball.
It was just like old times in the Craft Center this week. For Cauley-Stein, it might’ve been the last time he would command this kind of crowd in a UK basketball-themed setting.
The former Kentucky Wildcat is making his return to the court this weekend for his third consecutive summer run with the La Familia squad in the TBT. He said earlier this year that the $2 million tournament would be his final foray into organized basketball.
In typical Cauley-Stein fashion, he didn’t get what all the fuss was about.
“I’ve been retired for damn near four years now,” he joked at one point. “So it’s not anything different.”
Asked if he had a sense that his La Familia teammates, which will include UK peers like Archie Goodwin, Andrew Harrison and Marcus Lee, would come into the summer tournament with a “Win one for Willie” mentality, he playfully scoffed.
“We all need money, bro,” he said. “So whether it’s for me or not; I mean, it can be for me, as long as we win it.”
That’s the goal going into the UK basketball great’s last ride, which begins Saturday at noon in Memorial Coliseum and heads to Freedom Hall for Game 2 on Monday night against a team of former Louisville players.
If La Familia can make it to the end, the TBT finals are set for Aug. 2. So, whatever happens in the best-of-three series against those ex-Cards, Cauley-Stein’s playing days are quickly coming to an end.
Questioned on what he hoped to get out of this final on-court experience, Cauley-Stein replied with his typical mix of humor and honesty.
“Some money, man,” he said to laughter, before adding a little more context. “It’s another chance to come out here and lace ’em up in front of the fans and get to be around here for a little bit. Hopefully, we’re there for the long haul, so we can stay around for a few weeks. And just competing, being in that realm and that environment.”
In 2012, Cauley-Stein came to Lexington as the lowest-ranked prospect in John Calipari’s four-man recruiting class and emerged over time as a force all over the court, earning first-team All-America and national defensive player of the year honors after his junior year, when UK finished with a 38-1 record.
He was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft and spent nine years in the league. He hasn’t been on an NBA roster since the 2021-22 season and has played little organized basketball since.
Cauley-Stein turns 33 years old next month, and he’s decided it’s time to turn the page.
“Not being on an active roster, it’s just so hard to stay in shape,” he said. “So to take two months and just hurry up and get in shape every year, I don’t know, it’s just hard. So I don’t want to do it. And I don’t want to get petty hurt on something and not be able to swing my golf clubs. That’s how I’m living these days is playing golf and doing golf content. So that’s just been on my mind, tweaking something or doing some dumb thing and be out for way longer than I need to be.”
During those three years on campus, Cauley-Stein also emerged as arguably the most engaging interview of the Calipari era. (Few, if any, would argue otherwise.) A big part of the reason he gained that reputation was his ability to talk about things beyond basketball.
So when he got his first question about golf, a sport he picked up during his college years and has become a passion since his NBA career ended, it was no surprise that the 7-footer offered up his longest reply in what turned out to be a nearly 30-minute interview, barely pausing to take a breath while recounting his introduction to the game and how it has helped him get through difficult times off the court.
“When I went to rehab, all we had was a putting green,” said Cauley-Stein, who has been open about his battle with painkillers in the past. “I just locked in, and I was out there for like 65 days without anything to do besides chip and putt. So I just I caught on it, and then I didn’t have basketball, so I just needed something to pour into.”
As the crowd of reporters started to thin, moving on to talk to other former Cats in the gym, Cauley-Stein kept on talking about golf. He alternated between jokes and serious insight, just like he used to do a dozen years ago, when he would often steer conversations away from basketball and toward other subjects — art, Batman, hot dogs, whatever else was on his mind — in ways that were far more interesting than whatever was being said about hoops.
Cauley-Stein has big plans once his basketball career officially comes to an end. He’s still hoping to bring his family, including his three young children, to Lexington permanently, saying that move should be finalized by November.
He’s already creating golf content on social media and wants to pursue that further, talking at length about his plans, many of which were still in the developmental process, to become a golf influencer of sorts, with Kentucky as his home base.
Cauley-Stein spent four seasons in Sacramento and three in Dallas during his NBA career, but his time spent back in Lexington over the past few years has driven home the feeling that being a Wildcat was the peak of his basketball career.
“Pros was cool,” he said. “I mean, it’s a whole different experience. But when you’re playing for your community, your school, there’s a lot of pride in it. And then, also, we weren’t getting paid then, so you’re playing to try to get to a next level to secure yourself for life. So it’s just a different type of hunger before you go to the league or play professional and start losing the edge of like, ‘Damn, what made me want to play in the first place? What made me want to do this in the first place?’
“And once you get that, you’re kind of like, ‘Eh, what’s next? What’s the next thing that could get me somewhere?’”
Before he goes full-on into that next journey, there are a few more basketball games to be played. Beginning that final chapter on UK’s campus, and finishing it out while wearing a blue and white jersey, will be special, too.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” he said. “Being able to hang them up, get to play in front of these fans and this community, I mean, shoot, that’s a good way to send it off to me. … Legacy wise, I wouldn’t want to hang them up anywhere else.”
