Next Cats Blog

More Kentucky basketball recruiting links: 2022 NBA Draft, a Duke commit, and more

Kentucky freshman point guard TyTy Washington high-fives a participant during the UK basketball camp at Ryle High School on June 2, 2021.
Kentucky freshman point guard TyTy Washington high-fives a participant during the UK basketball camp at Ryle High School on June 2, 2021. swalker@herald-leader.com

The 2021 NBA Draft is in the books, and national basketball observers are already turning their attention to next year. Will any Kentucky players be selected in the lottery of the 2022 draft?

Obviously, there’s a long way to go. ESPN posted its mock draft for next year Friday morning, and it included two Kentucky freshmen in the first round: point guard TyTy Washington at No. 17 and Daimion Collins at No. 18. The first 2022 mock draft from The Athletic projected Washington at No. 19 and Collins at No. 22, while SB Nation has Washington at No. 18 and Collins at No. 29. No other UK players were mentioned in any of those mock drafts.

Jalen Duren, who is expected to announce a reclassification to 2021 (and is still considering UK, Memphis and Miami) is No. 4 in ESPN’s draft and No. 8 on the SB Nation board. He is not included in The Athletic mock draft, but that site’s draft analyst (Sam Vecenie) said Duren would be No. 1 on his board if he does reclassify. The Athletic and SB Nation currently have Duke’s Paolo Banchero at No. 1, while ESPN gives that spot to Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren.

Top Kentucky basketball recruiting links:

Adem Bona set to visit Kentucky in late August, hoping for a Wildcats offer

Duke got a commitment from the No. 7 player in the 2022 class on Sunday

Kentucky still in communication with five-star point guard Jaden Bradley

Top 100 Camp takeaways: Cason Wallace is top two-way guard in ‘22 class

More from Top 100 Camp: 2023’s Gregory Jackson was major stock-booster

CBS Sports projects TyTy Washington as a lottery pick in next year’s draft

London Johnson is a point guard to watch in the recruiting class of 2023

SEC: Nate Oats sees Alabama’s NBA Draft success helping with recruiting

UK basketball recruiting notebook: Dereck Lively’s mom recaps UK visit; Additional notes on Duren, 2023 player to watch, new offers and more

NBA Draft recap: Isaiah Jackson goes to the Pacers | BJ Boston to Clippers

Terrence Clarke honored: NBA reserves special moment for late UK player

G League recruits: Jalen Green picked at No. 2 | Jonathan Kuminga went 7th

Watch: Video highlights of ‘22 point guard Jaden Bradley from Top 100 Camp

Top 100 Camp notes: UK target Bona most athletic big man in the country?

What Duke is getting with new class of 2022 commitment Kyle Filipowski

Sports Illustrated: Elite recruits’ interest in HBCUs is still real, but less loud

Southeastern Conference unanimously votes to invite Texas and Oklahoma

More recruiting links: No. 1 SG Keyonte George is now trending to Baylor

This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 11:02 AM.

Ben Roberts
Lexington Herald-Leader
Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006. Support my work with a digital subscription
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