Five-star forward from Ohio is still considering Kentucky in his recruitment
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- Five-star forward Anthony Thompson is still considering UK basketball in his recruitment.
- Thompson is a 6-foot-8 small forward from Ohio.
Anthony Thompson has already made a pair of visits to Lexington to learn more about the Kentucky basketball program.
And the possibility for a third trip is still on the table.
On Thursday afternoon, Thompson — a five-star prospect in the 2026 recruiting class — announced his second school list cut as part of his college recruitment.
For the second time, Kentucky made the cut for Thompson.
Thompson is now working with a group of seven schools to choose from after previously releasing a top-15 list of schools in late April.
A 6-foot-8 small forward from Ohio, Thompson will make his college choice from a group of schools that includes Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Purdue, Texas, Ohio State and North Carolina.
Thompson, who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 8 prospect in the 2026 class, has been a priority recruiting target for head coach Mark Pope and the Wildcats.
Thompson — who plays high school basketball at Western Reserve Academy near Akron, Ohio, — first visited UK in October 2024 for Pope’s first Big Blue Madness. During that trip, Pope and his coaching staff extended a scholarship offer to Thompson. Then, Thompson returned to Lexington in January to watch Kentucky’s home SEC win over Florida, the eventual 2025 national champion.
Currently, Thompson is one of 17 uncommitted prospects in the 2026 recruiting class with a UK scholarship offer.
Pope and several UK assistant coaches watched Thompson play in June at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Rock Hill, South Carolina. While at that event, Thompson discussed his recruiting relationship with Kentucky.
“(They’re) very involved as well,” Thompson said at the event. “They came to visit me and kind of just told me how big of a priority I am for them with my versatility and my shooting and stuff like that. Obviously, it’s a really storied program, a really good program over a lot of years. It’s a blue blood.”
When discussing his potential fit at Kentucky, Thompson said his role with the Wildcats could be similar to the one Jaxson Robinson had last season.
“I feel like I’d probably play similar to Jaxson Robinson ... a lot of pick and rolls,” Thompson said. “I think watching them play, I kind of got a good feel for how their offense (operates).”
As far as a commitment timeline, Thompson indicated that he’d like to make his college decision before the start of his senior high school season in October or November.
It’s worth noting that Thompson recently signed an NIL endorsement deal with Adidas and that he played AAU basketball on the Adidas 3Stripes Select Basketball circuit for Indiana Elite. That’s the same program that produced former UK player Travis Perry and incoming Kentucky big man Malachi Moreno.
Thompson was also teammates this summer with top Kentucky recruits Caleb Holt and Taylen Kinney at the 2025 Adidas EuroCamp in Italy.
It’s also worth mentioning that 247Sports national analyst Travis Branham recently discussed Thompson’s recruitment with the Herald-Leader, and Branham didn’t sound all that optimistic regarding UK’s chances to land his commitment.
This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM.
