KENTUCKY STAYING PATIENT WITH FINAL ROSTER ADDITIONS

Last week capped off a great Phase 1 of roster building for the Kentucky Wildcats and new head coach Mark Pope.

After flying all over the country and hosting numerous visitors to Lexington, the new UK staff added nine players to the roster as they head into the summer months.

Still, one question remains: how will they finish it out?

At the moment, the Cats are waiting out a few NBA Draft decisions from Jaxson Robinson, Jaylin Wells, and Chaz Lanier. Currently, the most smoke seems to be coming from Robinson or Lanier being those additions.

According to Coach Pope, they will be meticulous in who they add to the already established team.

“There are some players that are taking a little bit longer because they’re fully engaged in draft workouts, and they’re trying to consider what path is going to be best for them,” Pope told Tom Leach on The Leach Report last Friday. “These last few pieces we’ll probably be a little bit more meticulous with and might not come at the torrid pace the rest of the group did.”

It was a busy few weeks, but this process is going to slow down substantially. The NCAA’s date to withdraw from the NBA Draft is May 29, and most likely, we will see all players stick pretty close to that date.

On May 11-12, the NBA G-League Elite Camp kicks off. Chaz Lanier and Jaylen Wells are both set to take part in it. A good showing could net them an NBA Draft Combine invite. Robinson is currently set to take part in that combine from May 12-19.

Once those conclude, these players may get private workouts with various NBA teams, which could lead to final stay-or-go decisions being made closer to the May 29 deadline.

At the moment, the Cats have a solid roster built to contend in Year 1 of the Pope era. Add 1-2 of these three guys, and next year suddenly looks very promising.

2024-05-07T10:20:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd