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WATCH: Klay Thompson surprises Kentucky basketball player over career milestone

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•02/14/22•

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Santiago Mejia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

With the news that the potential No. 1 pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft Rhyne Howard has surpassed 2,000 career points at Kentucky, she’s starting to catch the eyes of the NBA’s biggest stars, including the Golden State Warriors’ guard Klay Thompson.

“What’s up, Rhyne?” Thompson said on a video shown at Memorial Coliseum. “Congratulations on 2,000 points for your career. What an incredible accomplishment, only one of three women to ever do that. That is special, and I heard you’re a fan and I appreciate your love for my game, and I just want to show you some love because I know you’ll be at the next level very soon. I know you’ll be killing it there like you’re killing it in the SEC. So keep doing your thing, i’ll be watching … Just keep going and good luck with all your future endeavors.”

Thompson even said that if he finds himself in Lexington anytime soon, they’ll get in the gym together and even compete against one another in a three-point contest. “Whatever you want to do,” the NBA star said.

The video had Howard smiling from ear-to-ear while watching the video.

“Everyone around me knows how much I love them and how big of a fan I am of his,” Howard said. “As far as his game, I just love the way he plays and the way he plays on both sides of the ball, he’s never taking any plays off. A lot of people kind of overlook him sometimes, so that’s just what I love about him.”

Despite Kentucky falling on the road to Vanderbilt 65-57 on Jan. 27, the two-time reigning SEC Player of the Year accomplished something that only two other players in program history have managed to pull off. Howard finished with 25 points against the Commodores, settling exactly on 2,000 points throughout her college career. 

“I’m so proud of Rhyne Howard,” Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy said postgame of the All-American senior. “You know, the accolades continue but what she has done for Kentucky women’s basketball — what she has done for women’s basketball. She is very, very talented. But what I’m so proud of her, you know, she’s really stepped up in a leadership role through adversity.”

As for Kentucky basketball as a whole, Howard is the third-quickest player to hit 2,000 career points, doing so in her 100th career game as a ‘Cat. According to Corey Price, Dan Issel hit 2,000 points in just 79 games while Valarie Still needed 90 games to reach that point. Howard is fifth all-time in points when looking at both the men’s and women’s teams, and will likely finish ahead of Jack Givens (2,038 points), Kenny Walker (2,080), and Issel (2,138) by the time her career concludes.

Howard sits at No. 2 all-time on Kentucky WBB’s scoring list, and catching Still will require some unprecedented scoring to close out Howard’s final season though; Still is way ahead with 2,763 career points. That doesn’t mean the Kentucky legend won’t try.