Antonio Reeves says NBA teams liked his shooting ability

It wasn’t a sure thing that Antonio Reeves would be a Kentucky Wildcat for the 2023-24 college basketball season.

After taking his time to withdraw his name from the 2023 NBA Draft, the UK sharpshooter revealed the feedback that he received from NBA scouts during the pre-draft process — the good and the bad.

“They said I bring an NBA-level shooting ability to any team,” Reeves said. “The way that I space the floor, guys have to get out on me. I could play-make a little bit, put the ball on the floor — they want to see more of that. That is the type of stuff they told me.”

Reeves averaged 14.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists during the 2022-23 campaign for the Wildcats. The former Illinois State transfer shot a career-high 39.8 percent from beyond the arc and was a significant piece of Kentucky’s efforts last season. He heading into this season as UK’s top returner after the Wildcats lost a bevy of talent this offseason.

Now that he has a year’s experience in head coach John Calipari’s system, Reeves is poised to be the team’s go-to player on and off the court when the going gets rough. He’s as reliable as they come when taking a shot — and it seems to be the same in the locker room.

That’s an important quality to have. After all, Kentucky is back to its regular style of bringing in a star-studded freshman group and letting them ball out. Having someone like Reeves, who is a veteran leader, but also a proven starter on this team, goes a long way in developing that young talent.

Calipari’s 2023 freshman class is highlighted by three consensus Five-Star Plus+ recruits in Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner Jr., as well as four stars Robert Dillingham, Jordan Burks and Reed Sheppard. The class landed Kentucky head coach John Calipari another No. 1 overall recruiting class, per the On3 team rankings.

That class, along with the rest of the Wildcats are heading to Toronto for the 2023 GLOBL Jam tournament from July 12-16, where they will represent Team USA.

The first matchup will pit Kentucky against Team Germany Wednesday, July 12 at 1:30 p.m. ET. They battle Team Canada the following day and Team Africa on July 15 after a day off. The championship game will be held on July 16 at 8 p.m. ET.

CBS Sports Network will broadcast all of the games. Kentucky’s matchup against Germany and Africa will air live on the network, while the game vs. Canada will air via tape delay on July 14 at 12:00 a.m. E.T.