ESPN’s NBA mock draft for next year has three Kentucky freshmen in first round
Going into this basketball season, John Calipari appears to have one of his most NBA-friendly freshman classes in years.
A new 2021 NBA mock draft from ESPN posted Tuesday morning includes three Kentucky basketball newcomers as first-round picks.
ESPN’s draft has Brandon Boston going No. 3 overall — behind only Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham and G League signee Jalen Green — to the Detroit Pistons. ESPN projects fellow freshman guard Terrence Clarke at No. 15 overall to the Indiana Pacers, with UK freshman forward Isaiah Jackson going No. 25 overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Draft analyst Jonathan Givony even mentioned Boston — a 6-foot-7 guard — as a possible No. 1 overall pick.
“Boston may be able to capitalize ... with a strong season playing in a more traditional setting at Kentucky, where he has already demonstrated impressive talent as a 6-7 guard with a 7-foot wingspan who can create shots for himself and others, pull up with deep range and defend all over the floor,” Givony wrote.
UK hasn’t had three freshmen go in the first round of a single NBA Draft since De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo were all selected in the lottery range of the 2017 draft. And Calipari hasn’t had any player go as high as No. 3 overall since Karl-Anthony Towns was selected with the No. 1 pick following the 2014-15 college season.
A new mock draft posted by The Athletic on Tuesday also has Boston at No. 3 overall — following Cunningham and Green — with Clarke at No. 8 and Jackson at No. 33. So, going into the season, UK fans should probably expect all three of those players to be one-and-dones, which has long been the assumption with Boston and Clarke.
Those are the only three Wildcats that either mock draft has projected as a pick. UK will likely lose veteran transfers Olivier Sarr and Davion Mintz, as well, but the early projections say the Cats could return several talented players beyond the 2020-21 season. The other scholarship players on this season team are freshman point guard Devin Askew, wing players Keion Brooks, Dontaie Allen and Cam’Ron Fletcher, combo forward Jacob Toppin, and power forward Lance Ware.
The Cats have also already signed three recruits for next season — point guard Nolan Hickman, small forward Bryce Hopkins, and power forward Daimion Collins, who is a possible future lottery pick — and UK remains in the hunt for several other additions in the 2021 recruiting cycle.
There will almost certainly be some unforeseen departures from this season’s team — there’s always at least one, it seems — but the 2021-22 Wildcats are shaping up as a possible blend of returning talent and incoming prospects, even with the seemingly likely one-and-done exits of Boston, Clarke and Jackson.
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 11:17 AM.
