Report: Five-star early-enrollee ruled eligible for 2022 NBA Draft

Kentucky early-enrollee Shaedon Sharpe is eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. He is a former class of 2022 prospect who arrived in Lexington for the spring semester and became the No. 2 prospect in On3’s 2021 rankings.

Shaedon Sharpe’s birthday falls on May 30, meeting the NBA’s age requirement for the upcoming draft. The league requires all early-entry candidates to reach age 19 and be one season removed from high school graduation.

While he has not yet appeared for the Wildcats, the report suggests that one semester will fulfill the requirement and make him a top prospect in the 2022 NBA Draft rather than 2023. Head coach John Calipari has spoken about the arrival of the Canadian native, saying that he may or may not play throughout the season once worked up to speed with the current rotation.

Shaedon Sharpe at Kentucky

The Kentucky basketball Twitter account tweeted a video of Shaedon Sharpe in the gym shortly after his arrival this month, and he had a message for Big Blue Nation.

“What’s up, BBN?” Sharpe said. “It’s Shaedon Sharpe here in Lexington. Super pumped to get it started. Let’s go ‘Cats.”

Sharpe signed with Kentucky in November and announced he would enroll at Kentucky in January. He was originally the No. 1 overall recruit from the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus, and is now considered part of the 2021 class behind only Gonzaga center Chet Holmgren.

After Kentucky’s blowout victory over High Point, Calipari said Sharpe was not on campus yet. However, now that he’s in Lexington, the plan is to get him in shape before making a final decision on whether or not he will play this year.

“We haven’t talked about (him playing), the family hasn’t talked about it,” Calipari said two weeks ago. “My guess would be, he’s fine. Let’s get him in shape and go from there. There was never a plan to play him. I left that out there so everybody would panic, but there has never been a plan to play him. But, let’s get him here and work him out, see how things are, and see how our team is.”

However, if Sharpe does play, his mentor and coach Dwayne Washington told Kentucky Sports Radio he will be ready.

“His mindset is just to go there and get ready,” Washington said. “If Coach (Cal) says, ‘I need you to play,’ he’s going to play. He’s not going out there to play, he’s going out there to practice, but that can change at any moment.”