2022 NBA Draft: Portland Trail Blazers select Shaedon Sharpe, Kentucky guard

Kentucky guard Shaedon Sharpe is off the board in the 2022 NBA Draft. With the No. 7 pick of the first round, Sharpe was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Sharpe is of Canadian decent but came to the United States to play basketball. Coming out of Dream City Christian in Arizona, he was the No. 1 player in the 2022 class before reclassifying to 2021. Sharpe then committed to the University of Kentucky and enrolled during this season’s spring semester.

That’s where things become clouded with the former five-star. At first, his intention was to return to Lexington for the ’22-’23 season. As things progressed, though, it became more and more likely he would leave for this season’s NBA Draft. That became official following his workouts leading up to and during the NBA Draft Combine.

Sharpe is the biggest question mark in this year’s draft. Although he’s seen as one of the best prospects in the pool, the lack of experience post-high school made his evaluations much more difficult. Now, it’s up to the Trailblazers to see what kind of player he can become.

What ESPN’s Jonathan Givony says about Shaedon Sharpe

Leading up to the NBA Draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony broke down Sharpe’s game after his latest post-combine workouts with teams.

“Sharpe’s standing has solidified with some outstanding showings in competitive private workouts.” said Givony. “His performances have improved with every visit, and he has demonstrated significantly more fire than teams expected from the intel they gathered on (him) coming out of Kentucky. (He’s) clearly oozing with natural ability, possessing elite physical tools with his exceptional frame, length and explosiveness, to go along with dynamic perimeter shooting ability.”

Even so, he recognized the fact that the lack of evaluation on Sharpe made him one of the most difficult prospects to read in recent years.

“There was a reason he was the No. 1-ranked player in his high school class, but his lack of experience and how little he has been evaluated might make it difficult for (teams) to roll the dice on him.”