Amari Williams withdraws from 2024 NBA Draft, will play for Mark Pope, Kentucky

For once and for all, Amari Williams will play for the Kentucky Wildcats. The former Drexel big man announced his transfer commitment back in April, but he’s now officially withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will play another year in college.

He told college hoops insider Jon Rothstein of his decision, and Rothstein tweeted out the following post on Tuesday:

“Kentucky’s Amari Williams tells me that he will withdraw from the 2024 NBA Draft following his workout today. Transfer from Drexel.”

Williams was actually an early Mark Pope commit and was among the very first transfers to pledge to Kentucky following the coaching change. He was the first in a snowball of commitments over the next few weeks, as the Wildcats filled out nearly as complete roster by mid-May.

Of course, that haul included a few other big men. The ‘Cats nabbed Oklahoma State center and rising sophomore Brandon Garrison, Wake Forest senior Andrew Carr and Fairleigh Dickinson forward Ansley Almonor all in the frontcourt to compete with Williams for minutes.

Amid that string of commitments, Mark Pope actually flew to Philadelphia to help re-affirm Williams’ commitment to Kentucky.

Whether the growing number of bodies down low was a concern, we don’t really know, but ESPN’s Jonathan Givony did tweet out that whatever qualms Williams may have had with his commitment were shut down thanks to a conversation with Coach Pope.

“Source: Following a late-night meeting with head coach Mark Pope, Amari Williams will remain committed to playing for Kentucky next season,” Givony tweeted with no other details.

That report came at the very beginning of May and seemed to quiet any noise surrounding Williams breaking his commitment. However, he apparently stayed active in his NBA Draft process and only just now decided to pull out of it for good.

At last, Amari Williams’ commitment to Kentucky appears signed, sealed and delivered.

On the surface level, as a player, his accolades speak for themselves. Williams is the current reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Colonial Athletic Conference, where Drexel plays. He’s also made the All-CAA teams in both of the last two seasons.

Statistically, Williams doesn’t wow having scored just over 12 points per game at a mid-major school, which may appear sub-standard for a Kentucky commit. But he was the leading scorer for the Dragons in 2024 and also grabbed 7.8 rebounds per game and blocked 1.8 shots per game — in addition to his role as defensive anchor.

He was also an advanced-stats king on this Drexel team. Amari Williams finished with by far the highest box-plus-minus and defensive box-plus-minus on his squad in 2024.