Five-star point guard Jaden Bradley earns Kentucky scholarship offer. ‘We’re excited.’
Five-star point guard Jaden Bradley and his family weren’t necessarily expecting to get a scholarship offer from Kentucky during a planned video conference with the UK coaches Sunday.
They thought they would be talking primarily to assistant coaches Joel Justus and Jai Lucas, but when the video popped up on Kentucky’s end, John Calipari was right there on the screen, sitting at his desk.
The UK head coach delivered the good news.
“What Coach Cal said was that, ‘Moving forward, we know who we want and what that looks like. And Jaden is who we want. We want him to be a part of our program.’ He spoke highly of him,” Nathan Bradley, the star recruit’s father, told the Herald-Leader on Sunday evening.
“He said they had just been studying Jaden’s game and his mentality — and with the feedback they had been getting from other coaches and people around him — he said it was a no-brainer.”
Bradley has long been one of UK’s most coveted targets in the 2022 class. He’s ranked No. 6 nationally in that group by Rivals.com and ESPN, and he’s in the conversation for the best point guard in the 2022 class.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound playmaker — originally from Rochester, N.Y. — moved to the Charlotte area a few years ago and won North Carolina state player of the year honors and a state championship before transferring to IMG Academy (Fla.) for his junior season. He was on UK’s radar prior to his sophomore season, and the Kentucky coaching staff hosted him for an unofficial visit in the fall of 2019.
“It was really, really impressive,” Bradley’s father said of that trip. “And it was more impressive because we got a chance to share it with our family.”
Often on unofficial visits, players are limited in the number of additional people they can bring to campus. Bradley’s father recalled asking the coaches who they could bring.
“And the coaching staff was like, ‘Bring everybody.’ Those were the exact words,” he said. “That’s the way Kentucky does it. They do it big.”
Calipari met with the family in his office on that trip and referenced back to that meeting during his call Sunday night. While Bradley might be back in Lexington sometime before he’s ready to make a college decision, no additional trips are necessary from Kentucky’s end.
“He said, ‘If you want to commit, let us know, and you can commit.’ That’s good to hear, because sometimes you get offers when people don’t really want you to commit right away,” Bradley’s father said. “So that was really exciting for us.”
Multiple point guard recruits
UK already has one commitment for the 2022 class, and he plays the same position as Bradley.
Five-star point guard Skyy Clark committed to the Wildcats in October, but that won’t hurt UK’s chances with Bradley. On the contrary, it could help Kentucky’s cause.
Bradley’s father said Sunday that the two families already know each other, and their sons have been talking about the possibility of playing together in college for a while now.
“We’ve known those guys for a long time,” he said. “Even prior to getting an offer — and before he got an offer — those kids have talked about playing together. If you watch what they do, they usually have multiple point guards on the floor. I think both of those kids can play off the ball. I think that they both have similar strengths. There’s no qualms at all. We’re excited about that opportunity.”
Clark and his father have made similar statements in the past, telling the Herald-Leader that they would love for Clark to be able to play alongside other talented point guards and pointing to Calipari’s history with multiple point guard lineups, including starting Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickley and Tyrese Maxey at the same time just last season.
There has also been considerable reclassification speculation around Clark, who is still mulling a possible jump to the 2021 class.
Bradley has also been approached about reclassifying up by some of the schools recruiting him. He doesn’t turn 18 years old until mid-September, but he is keeping an open mind. Bradley’s father said they haven’t closed the door on such a move, but — if he were to make the jump — it would have to be for an ideal situation.
“Jaden is so far into development — he wants to be ready when he gets there — but in the right situation … we’re open to that. We haven’t ruled it out,” his father said, noting that Bradley would have to have a good opportunity to compete for a considerable role right off the bat.
Kentucky has also signed four-star point guard Nolan Hickman for next season, and it looks like freshman point guard Devin Askew will be back at UK for a sophomore year.
Bradley added that the family hasn’t even had serious conversations about a commitment yet, so any speculation on reclassification should be seen as just that. He also spoke highly of Bradley’s development at IMG Academy and implied there was no rush to move on from high school. The most important factor would be making sure Bradley is 100 percent ready to make an impact as a college freshman, he said.
Duke’s coaches also had a call with Bradley’s family over the weekend — an offer from the Blue Devils could be coming soon — and North Carolina is among the schools that had already extended a scholarship offer. This is certainly shaping up as a blue-blood battle, and the 17-year-old should have his pick of colleges once it comes time to make a decision.
For now, he’s focused on getting better and taking the recruitment in stride.
Bradley’s father said he and his wife didn’t try to hide their excitement after Calipari told them about the offer on Sunday’s call. He said his son calmly thanked the coaches for the honor.
“That’s just how he is,” his dad said with a laugh. “I’m sure he was super excited on the inside.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 6:59 PM.
