Shaedon Sharpe's mentor preaches patience amid NBA Draft eligibility

Shock was sent through the college basketball world when it was revealed Kentucky early-enrollee Shaedon Sharpe is eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft. Now, the question becomes whether Sharpe will ever end up suiting up for the Wildcats after all.

To illustrate, Sharpe 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. 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.

At the moment, Sharpe is still being brought up to speed by John Calipari and has not been used in the rotation yet. Sharpe was expected to be the next great player for Calipari and Kentucky, but he may end up leaving Lexington before ever logging a minute.

Kentucky is enjoying a successful season, but one has to wonder if we’ll see Sharpe on the court. On Saturday, Sharpe’s former mentor and coach Dwayne Washington told KSR the star recruit needs to have patience.

“Right now the team is doing well, they don’t need him,” Washington told KSR. “He may not play. It’s up to Cal. If he wants him to play, he’ll play. That means Cal thinks he’s ready.

“When a cook is in the kitchen, you just let them do their thing. Especially when they’ve proven they know what they’re doing.”

As you can see, Sharpe will take a long-term approach with his future. He’s not simply waiting for March Madness or the NBA Draft — he’s weighing all the options for his career. Time will tell if he heeds Washington’s warning, or if Shaedon Sharpe looks towards the next level.

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Furthermore, 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.”

On3’s James Fletcher III contributed to this article.