Rob Dillingham reflects on emotions of buying his mom a house

Former Kentucky star Rob Dillingham hasn’t been drafted by an NBA team yet, but he is already making some of his dreams come true.

Dillingham recently purchased a house for his mom, giving back to someone who means so much to him.

He spoke with Shams Charania and reflected on his emotions of buying his mom a house.

“Really, I ain’t got the full experience of seeing how she feels when she actually gets in the house. But I’m already knowing by how she texts me and stuff, she’s a happy camper right now,” Rob Dillingham said. “It’s just a blessing, because I know where I come from, and I know just the little things.

“And being able to buy my mother a house and my sister and her kids, it’s just a blessing, because you never would think you could do that some day. So I just thank God, honestly.”

Dillingham joined Kentucky ahead of the 2023-24 season after being ranked as the No. 16 overall player in the country for the class of 2023, per the On3 Industry rankings.

He was second on the Kentucky team with an average of 15.2 points per game this past season. Now he is off to the NBA and could be a lottery pick in this week’s NBA Draft.

Rob Dillingham says that without his family he wouldn’t be where he is today, and he’s thankful for the opportunity to give back.

“It’s played the biggest role, because without family, without struggles, you don’t really have no motivation,” Dillingham said. “That be the problem with a lot of dudes, and I feel like with my family, we’ve been through so much, it just pushes me to just keep wanting to go and provide for them and help for our family. So they’ve been one of the biggest helps.”

Dillingham did an impressive job of putting the ball through the hoop this past season, despite making only one start during the 32 games he appeared in.

He shot 47.5 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from 3-point range and nearly 80 percent from the free-throw line this past season. Still, he was fifth on the team in minutes per game at 23.3.

Rob Dillingham and the Wildcats finished the 2023-24 season with a 23-10 record. That includes a loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament, which ended Dillingham’s time at Kentucky and his college career.

James Fletcher of On3 released his latest mock draft on Monday and he has Dillingham landing with the Miami Heat at pick No. 15.

People seem to be split on Dillingham as a pro prospect due to the fact that he is an elite scorer but also inconsistent in some areas, which kept him from getting more minutes at Kentucky.