Shaedon Sharpe, center, stayed on the bench all season at Kentucky but now is off to the NBA. (Photo by Vicky Graff)
If you were surprised today that Shaedon Sharpe put his name into the NBA Draft, I am not sure why. For months all signs have pointed to him doing just that no matter what Kentucky coach John Calipari said or those closest to Sharpe kept insisting about him being back at UK next year.
Jeff Borzello of ESPN tweeted early today that Sharpe plans to stay in the draft.
“Former No. 1 prospect in the 2022 class, enrolled at Kentucky for the spring semester, but won’t end up playing a minute for the Wildcats. Elite guard and surefire lottery pick,” Borzello posted.
It was the same message many had been predicting and remember that Yahoo/Rivals basketball writer/analyst Krysten Peek noted over a month ago that she got the impression from Sharpe in an October interview that he would not be back at UK for the 2022-23 season even though that was supposed to be the plan.
Sharpe said he would maintain his college eligibility — for now — but he’s being projected as a certain top 10 pick and he’s not going to turn that kind of money down.
“I’d like to thank God for his many blessings and for always guiding my path. To Coach Cal and the rest of the coaching staff, thank you for your guidance and support both on and off the court. To my family and friends, your unconditional love has seen me through the ups and downs and to BBN I will be eternally grateful for your patience and understanding while I go through the process,” Sharpe posted on Twitter.
Memo to Sharpe: That BBN patience is gone and it will be best for everyone if he stays in the draft. Kentucky can move on with recruiting and he can move on with his life.
“I don’t even know where to begin with the Shaedon Sharpe stuff. It was a mess and the ending felt inevitable. Hard to blame Calipari for taking a chance in case he played, but can’t blame fans for being upset either. For everyone’s sake, I hope we just move on,” Kentucky Sports Radio’s Tyler Thompson tweeted after the Sharpe news broke.
Thompson put it perfectly. I don’t blame Calipari, either, for taking the No. 1 player in the 2022 recruiting class and hoping he would play. I also can’t blame fans for being tired of the whole he’s not going to the NBA, he’s going to play next year and he’s not leaving promises that kept being made — or at least being told to BBN.
“Circus. Time to move on,” UK fan Frank Scott tweeted.
“So, where do we get our ‘None and Done’ & ‘Sit & Quit’ shirts? Is this the new greatest day in Kentucky basketball history since we can send them to the pros without them even playing? Amazing work!” UK fan Jason Oaks posted on Twitter.
“Can’t blame the young man. But man does this look bad on Cal,” UK fan John Thompson tweeted.
I could go on and on with the fan reaction and if you think there’s a chance Sharpe might come back, I got some swampland I would love to sell you.
“Sharpe’s time at Kentucky could have undoubtedly been handled better, but this decision shouldn’t be a shock to anyone,” Peek wrote today. “Calipari and his coaching staff knew what they were getting when they allowed Sharpe to sit second semester and work on his game, behind closed doors in practice.”
You can read the whole story here.
It’s just too bad BBN had to go from the euphoria of Oscar Tshiebwe’s announcement Wednesday that he was coming back after a national player of the year season to a player who never played a minute at Kentucky announcing he was putting his name in the draft in a 24-hour period.
8 Responses
This appears to be one of those articles that you felt had to be written to help get the BBN to move along. But, I’m waiting for Sharpe’s Camp to write their article. Where’s the responsibility for insisting all along, in light of Shaedon’s perceived draft status, that he was different, he wants to mature a year at Kentucky? What about the whole not wanting to burn the connection with Cal and the whole Canadian pipeline to the NBA that Cal fostered? They had to know how this would go over with us and how much pressure it would put on Cal. So, basically, everyone has a price for their integrity. It’s just a matter of putting enough money out there and then we’re all supposed to say it’s fine? I don’t think so, Larry.
No amount of money is worth more than your word, your promise, integrity, honesty, reputation.
If his handler was speaking for him out of place all along, but Sharpe’s intentions were true, then he needs to clean house, explain, and hope he can salvage his reputation.
If not…. he has already chosen his path. So much for mentoring these young men- starting your career and adult life in deception?
I know NBA managers can be desperate, but it could cost him that top ten pick if they don’t trust him or his shady handler. And it could cost him in life.
Now that we hear that his handler refused to let him play, It also could cost him that he didn’t play last season trying to protect his draft status.
I’m thinking if you’re that good, you would’ve proven it. But, if your confidence is so low that you think it’s too big of a risk that your status would drop, then maybe you aren’t ready to play at a high level.
This stinks to the High Heaven! Old Cal will be there the night of the NBA Draft and be laughing and bragging about all the players He has put in the NBA and the whole country especially in Kansas and North Carolina are laughing about the cats great run in the tournament.I’ll wear Ky blue again when He leaves for the Lakers and we get a coach that cares about getting #9 at Kentucky.
Calipari doesn’t even have the top recruiting class in the SEC, much less the country. Oscar coming back is the only reason this team won’t have a losing record, but count on double digit losses.
Someone is lying here. The High School, UK, or the Sharpe’s. He is keeping his option to come back on the table at UK’s expense. If it is found out that the High School lied and he is ineligible for the draft, then he can come back to UK. Ignoring the fact that it may cost UK a recruit it needs. I have lost any respect that I had for the Sharpe’s. Oscar has integrity and honor, I guess it was too much to expect from the Sharpe’s as well. I was hoping for their word to mean more than money. It looks like everyone was right about them.
I agree! Wasted time on a player, his family and advisers who lied from the get go! They used Kentucky to promote his name and Who is dumb enough to believe Him or His Crooked family didn’t know He had graduated from high school. And His Adviser told Him not to play in games? Everyone in the state is mad or laughing at Kentucky.
Reports are saying Cal wanted to Play him, but he was shut down by the handler.
What are the legal requirements of an athletic scholarship? Can you refuse to play and remain on scholarship?
NIL deals? Is he culpable here?
And IF this is all true, coming from a tidal wave of sources now, is he intentionally trying to hurt our transfer portal and recruiting by leaving the door open for another month to pull out of the draft? Why, at this point, would he continue to hurt this program unless he truly thinks he might come back?
If I was an enemy of the program, this would be a pretty good plan for sabotaging our recruiting!
So I just read the Peek article that you referenced above. She states "Calipari and his coaching staff knew what they were getting when they allowed Sharpe to sit second semester and work on his game, behind closed doors in practice."
Is she breaking news here? Is she saying that she has knowledge that Calipari knew this was the plan all along?