Kentucky freshman Reed Sheppard to forgo eligibility, enter 2024 NBA Draft

Kentucky legacy and star freshman Reed Sheppard will pass on his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2024 NBA Draft, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Sheppard was considered a potential lean to stay at Kentucky for a sophomore season.

Instead, Sheppard, a McDonald’s All-American and a bit of a surprise star in Kentucky’s loaded 2023 signing class, will leave for the NBA, where he’s projected to be a potential lottery pick. Various mock drafts throughout the season have projected him as a potential Top 5 pick, though his stock has cooled since then.

Sheppard explained his decision further in depth to Givony.

“I’m going all-in,” Sheppard said to ESPN. “The opportunity I have is great. I’ve gotten really good feedback showing where I can be in the draft. I had an unbelievable year at Kentucky. It was such a fun year. It’s not easy leaving the fans and the school I dreamed of playing at. I need to do what’s best for me, and that’s heading to the NBA.”

Sheppard played in all 33 games for Kentucky in 2023-24, making just five starts. But he played major minutes off the bench, averaging nearly 30 minutes a night and 12.5 points per game. And Sheppard’s combination of scoring, shooting, facilitating and generally even demeanor have NBA teams highly intrigued in his skillset. He shot over 50% from 3 during his lone college season and displayed a knack for not only finding aggressive, tantalizing passes, but the ability to thread the ball into narrow spaces to set up his teammates.

The biggest question for Reed as he transitions to the NBA is how good of a defender he can be. At 6-foot-3 and 187 pounds, he’s on the smaller end of players and would likely struggle switching onto bigger, stronger wing players early in his career. But with 2.5 steals per game in college, Sheppard has shown enough ability and willingness to be engaged on the defensive end that NBA teams likely won’t be perturbed.

Sheppard played high school football at North Laurel (Ky.) High School, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 38 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

New coach Mark Pope was hoping to get Sheppard for another season

Pope, who was teammates with Sheppard’s dad for the Wildcats in the 1990s, was not shy about trying to keep Sheppard around for another season.

“Yeah, so, listen. Reed is in that elite air status where he’s a lottery pick,” Pope said on his coaches radio show. “He’s going to be the fourth or fifth or sixth or seventh pick in the NBA Draft. That is not something to be taken lightly. It’s really extraordinary.”

“So, Reed, the way he’s going to be successful in his future is if he really searches inside himself and finds out where his heart is pulling him,” said Pope. “In all honestly, Jeff, Stacey, and Reed are very spiritual people and where God is calling him. That’s just the truth.”