John Calipari confirms Aaron Bradshaw's injury, shares recovery timeline

Two weeks ago, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that five-star freshman Aaron Bradshaw suffered a fracture in his foot and could miss the start of the upcoming season. Today, John Calipari confirmed Bradshaw’s injury and surgery and said his doctors believe he should be good to go by the start of the regular season.

“Not from what the doctors are telling me,” Calipari said when asked if Bradshaw will miss the start of the season. “We will not rush him back. We won’t. You know it’s — for what he did and how he did it and how quickly, like, when he decided it, it was a day and a half later, two days later, he had the operation. So he wants to play, yes.”

Calipari said that Bradshaw’s fracture was such that he could have decided to let it heal naturally, which would mean an extended recovery, or have surgery, which would speed up the process. Calipari said the freshman went with the latter because of how badly he wants to play for Kentucky.

“Let me say this: he was one of the stars,” Calipari said of Bradshaw. “Had a foot injury, had a choice to make. Do you let it heal or do you do an operation? He waited for a minute to say, let me see this. But at the end of the day, he said, I want an operation because I want to play.”

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Bradshaw will not travel with Kentucky to Toronto

Calipari said that Bradshaw will return to campus this weekend and will be wearing a boot; however, he will not travel with the team to Toronto for the GLOBL Jam in a few weeks.

“I told him and the team a while ago, he would not be going to Toronto, then he said it publicly, but he will not be in Toronto with us, obviously. He’ll be getting healthy.”

“I look at him and for him, he made that decision. He could have waited it out and then saw that it could work and he could be fine, but he said, ‘I don’t want to take a chance. I want to play.'”

Bradshaw’s injury is a setback; however, Calipari has been thrilled with how the freshman has embraced the Kentucky Basketball brand and the Big Blue Nation thus far.

“Aaron Bradshaw was unbelievable in the camps and in our community. The kids loved him, the parents loved him,” Cal said.

“It’s unfortunate for him, but we’ve had guys that couldn’t be there in the summer and came back and played great. All I can tell you is every time, he grabs me, says, ‘I love you, Coach. Like, this kid is so excited about him being here and wants to help us win.”

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