Kentucky basketball coaches past and present voiced their approval for UK’s showing in the 2024 NBA draft. The Wildcats had three players from the 2023-24 team — Reed Sheppard (No. 3 overall), Rob Dillingham (No. 8 overall) and Antonio Reeves (No. 47 overall) — selected.
And former UK coach John Calipari, along with current UK coach Mark Pope, have both posted on social media as these ex-Cats learned their NBA destinations. Calipari attended the first round of the NBA draft on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. While there, Calipari reunited with both Sheppard and Dillingham, who were at the draft as green room invitees.
Also while at this year’s draft, Calipari met up with the Sarr family: Oldest son Olivier played at Wake Forest and Kentucky as part of a four-year college career, and youngest son Alexandre was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 draft by the Washington Wizards.
For his part, Pope sent out a pair of congratulatory messages on social media after Sheppard and Dillingham were selected in the draft.
Both Calipari and Pope posted on social media after UK’s lone second round selection in the draft when Antonio Reeves was taken Thursday.
On Tuesday during his first media-only press conference as the Kentucky basketball coach, Pope discussed the importance of the NBA draft to the Kentucky basketball program.
