There’s a clamor for Shaedon Sharpe to play for Kentucky this season. Will it happen?
So far, the decision-makers have been relatively mum on the subject of whether or not Shaedon Sharpe will play in actual basketball games for the Kentucky Wildcats this season.
UK Coach John Calipari has taken a don’t-think-so-but-we’ll-see stance when asked about it in recent media sessions, leaving the door ever so open to such a possibility.
Sharpe’s inner circle, particularly his basketball mentor Dwayne Washington, has said the star recruit will do whatever it takes to help this Kentucky team — even if that means playing right away — while reiterating that the plan is for Sharpe to practice only with the Wildcats this season in anticipation of a November 2022 debut on the court.
The player himself has not spoken publicly on the matter, with his arrival in Lexington and initiation into the UK basketball program now just days away.
While it’s true that the plan for months has been for Sharpe to enroll this winter, practice with the team, and continue to work on his strength and conditioning with the 2022-23 season as the target for an on-court debut, nothing that has been said in recent weeks has done anything to tamp down the idea of him playing for the Wildcats right away.
In fact, the calls for such a move are intensifying.
With Kentucky’s loss to Notre Dame over the weekend — UK’s second defeat in as many games against high-major opponents this season — certain corners of Big Blue Nation are alarmed at the Cats’ trajectory. Their guard play has been uneven, their three-point shooting less than advertised, and their halfcourt playmaking ability sometimes stagnant.
Sharpe — a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Ontario — has been billed as the type of can’t-miss, offensively adept prospect who could help any team in all three of those areas, and that hasn’t been lost on those following the situation.
The UK message-boarders and social-media posters have opinions of Sharpe ranging from definite instant-impact player to possible savior of this 2021-22 season that has barely begun. National college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman said on his podcast over the weekend — after UK’s loss to Notre Dame — that Sharpe is “the answer” for this Kentucky team moving forward. Podcast co-host Terrence Oglesby agreed, adding that Sharpe would be the No. 1 player on this Kentucky squad and could be the “missing piece” for the Wildcats this season.
It’s becoming clear that the clamor among some UK fans that Sharpe — the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2022 class before his decision to enroll early — playing this season has gone national as a talking point. And that debate will only heat up once Sharpe steps on campus.
Will Sharpe play this season?
The Herald-Leader confirmed this week that Sharpe will be eligible to join the program and take part in team activities as soon as: A) the fall semester is finished, and B) he enrolls in classes for the spring semester. Sharpe is free to enroll in classes for the spring right now, so it’s likely he will join his new teammates shortly after the fall semester officially comes to an end Friday.
Calipari said during his Thursday press conference that he didn’t think Sharpe would join the team until after Christmas, and he offered no update on the possibility that he might play this season. “Let’s just get him to campus,” he said.
Once Sharpe hits the practice floor, Calipari and the UK coaches will get a first-hand look at Sharpe’s current skill set and an idea of how he might fit with this season’s team.
“From a skill perspective, he’s definitely ready to play in the SEC,” Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy told the Herald-Leader this week. “There’s no doubt about it — he can score. Now, the logistics of just dropping somebody into a system — that’s the tough part, right? I don’t know about that. I don’t know how much you can really expect from a guy who gets on campus for one week. Guys come in for the school year, they have some time before the season to get acclimated to the offense and how things run. He is a talented player. So could he help? Yes. But is he going to change the season? Do I think he could be a game-changer? Not right away. It’s really a lot to ask of somebody to do that.”
The newcomers on this Kentucky team joined the program in June and had the benefit of several months of workouts and practices — including ample time with the UK coaches — before the real games began last month. Sharpe, if he plays this season, would basically be asked to throw the learning curve out the window and acclimate himself to a higher level of basketball right away.
All that taken into consideration, 247Sports analyst Travis Branham thinks Sharpe can make an immediate impact on this Kentucky team.
“Absolutely. He would be a big help,” Branham told the Herald-Leader. “If anybody’s been paying attention to this season, I think it’s pretty clear that they struggle at times to score the basketball. Shaedon — that’s what he does better than anybody else. He’s an explosive, strong, skilled, dynamic guard that can put the basketball in the hole from all three levels.
“So if he elects to play, I would expect him to probably be in the starting lineup fairly soon upon that announcement.”
Branham clarified that he didn’t think Sharpe would be starting for the Wildcats right away. As good as he’s expected to be, Sharpe will need some practice time to get adjusted. And then he’d need some game situations to further acclimate himself to a new level. After Christmas, the only competition left on UK’s schedule is High Point, Kansas and the 18-game slate in the Southeastern Conference, with eight of those league games coming against Top 25 teams.
So, not the easiest way to get your feet wet.
“He is going to be playing catch-up if he decides to play,” Branham said. “Trying to figure out the plays. Most importantly, defensive strategies. He has to improve his defense. He’s capable of being a really good defender, but he’s not there yet — his approach and engagement on that end is something that he has to work on. And jumping into it in midseason — getting in shape and all that — that stuff takes time. So, he will not start right away. However, I would see him working his way into the lineup really quickly. He’s one of those kids that has a high basketball IQ, so picking things up quickly, I think, will come pretty naturally to him.”
If Sharpe plays, who sits?
If Sharpe is ready to play this season, the expectation is that he would be among the team’s best players. That means he’d play significant minutes. And those minutes would have to come from somewhere.
Calipari seems to be trending toward a four-guard rotation of Sahvir Wheeler, TyTy Washington, Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz, with Dontaie Allen looking like the odd man out as league play nears.
Of that group, Washington seems the safest bet to sustain major minutes, but Wheeler’s play has been erratic at times, Grady has a tendency to disappear if he’s not knocking down outside shots, and Mintz has been coming off the bench after leading the team in scoring last season. There are probably minutes to be found for Sharpe there, but it would be a delicate situation.
“To the other guys, it’s like, ‘Oh, surprise. Here’s this other dude that none of you guys know, and he’s going to play.’ It’s a slippery slope, I think,” Cassidy said. “So it’ll be interesting.”
If Sharpe is starring in practice — and truly receptive to hitting the court this season — and some of Kentucky’s other guards continue to struggle, Calipari might not have any choice but to throw the midseason enrollee out there and see what happens.
Washington has shown he can penetrate and create his own shot, but he hasn’t been super consistent in that regard, and his fellow backcourt mates have been even less so. Sharpe, according to the recruiting analysts, is a different story.
“He’s a guy that you can give the basketball to and say, ‘Go get me a bucket.’ And he’ll go do it,” Branham said.
Cassidy stressed that a lot of things would have to fall into place for this to work. Sharpe and his inner circle would have to be on board with what is effectively a change to the original plan. Calipari would have to trust the 18-year-old to make an immediate impact with little preparation. And his teammates would have to accept a newcomer staking claim to an integral role in the middle of the season.
And then there’s the matter of if such a move could cause any negative impact on Sharpe’s own development. Remember, the plan is for him to be a star player on next season’s team — one that could have realistic national title expectations. If he has a bumpy start to his college career because he tried to play too quickly, might that have an effect on his mindset moving forward?
“I don’t think it would hurt his development,” Cassidy said. “I think maybe it would hurt his short-term draft stock. And that’s short term. Those draft projections update every week. And it’s not going to matter if he plays next year and he’s one of the five best players in college basketball. But if you throw him out there and he looks bad because he doesn’t understand what the hell he’s supposed to be doing … people talk, and he starts getting a reputation. That stuff matters.”
Shaedon Sharpe and the NBA
Sharpe’s short-term NBA Draft stock shouldn’t matter much if he doesn’t enter the draft until 2023, which is currently the expectation.
But, in a situation that has turned to saga before Sharpe even starts his college career, even that fact remains unsettled behind the scenes.
On paper, Sharpe should not be eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft, no matter when he enrolls in college classes. The league eligibility rules related to his case state that a player must be at least 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft (which he will be in late May) and that “at least one NBA season (must have) elapsed since the player’s graduation from high school.” According to a logical reading of that language, Sharpe does not fulfill the requirement, since the current NBA season started before he graduated from high school.
But, if Sharpe really wanted to go to the NBA Draft after this season, he might be able to challenge the intent of that language and argue for a more liberal reading of it. And that could theoretically play a part in whether or not he plays this season.
“My personal opinion is, if I’m Shaedon Sharpe, it only helps me to play — this is the catch — if I’m not draft eligible in 2022, which I’m still uncertain of,” Branham said.
The 247Sports analyst is fully aware of the relevant NBA rules and the credible reports that Sharpe will not be eligible for the 2022 draft. “On the other hand, I have been told by credible sources that they believe he will be eligible in 2022,” he said.
“If he’s not draft eligible in 2022, he should play,” Branham continued. “Go ahead and start getting the reps, figure things out. It only helps you, and it also helps the team. Now, if he is draft eligible in 2022, coming in midseason — that’s not an easy task.
“He got to play in front of NBA scouts at Peach Jam, and he was awesome. He is essentially leaving them on a very bright note leading up to the draft. Now, putting yourself into a college basketball situation, entering SEC play — which is obviously going to be very difficult this year — you would put yourself in a situation where it’s going to be difficult to live up to what you played at the Peach Jam. I’m not saying he’s not as good as what he showed at the Peach Jam. I’m just saying that doing that midseason is a very challenging task for anybody. Especially an 18-year-old kid.”
If Sharpe was eligible for next year’s draft, he’d likely be a top-five pick based solely on what he showed NBA types over the summer, particularly at the Nike Peach Jam showcase in July. There isn’t much room for improvement there if he were to step onto the court for Kentucky this season. There’d be plenty of room to drop, however, if he played and didn’t perform to the lofty expectations.
Branham said he didn’t have a good feel for what will happen with Sharpe this season. “If I’m anywhere right now, I’m 50/50,” he said.
What’s clear given the circumstances is that this speculation will continue — on two fronts — for the immediate future. No matter what Calipari and others say over the next few weeks, there will be questions about whether or not Sharpe will play until either he sets foot on the court or the season ends.
And then the NBA Draft questions will continue. Sharpe’s camp has made clear that the plan is to develop at Kentucky this winter and play the 2022-23 season for the Wildcats, with the draft not even a consideration. But those words , sincere as they might be, won’t stop the chatter. And with the NBA seemingly unwilling — or unable — to give a clear answer on his 2022 draft status to those who ask, the question will remain for the foreseeable future.
“At this point, there’s no real easy way to squash this,” Branham said. “There are good sources indicating he is eligible. Meanwhile, there’s other information out there that indicates he isn’t eligible. … This one is going to be a hot topic of debate around the state of Kentucky from now until the end of the season. And even after the season.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
