Chris Livingston exchanges star role for winning basketball at Kentucky

A native of Akron, Ohio, Kentucky freshman forward Chris Livingston has long been seen as the best player to come out of the city since NBA superstar LeBron James. Beyond the personal relationship the two players share — he considers James a “mentor” and “real role model ever since I was a kid” — the physical similarities are glaring. The same can be said about their styles of play, using their unique combination of size, athleticism and skill to dominate on the floor — mismatch nightmares.

Standing 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, Livingston averaged an absurd 31.1 points, 15.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 4.7 steals and 4.0 blocks per game as a junior at Buchtel High School in Akron. It was a campaign that resulted in Gatorade Ohio Player of the Year and MaxPreps Junior All-America First Team honors, one that cemented himself as a clear top-five prospect in high school basketball.

As a senior, though, he transferred to Oak Hill Academy to play under legendary head coach Steve Smith in his final season with the program before retirement. Rather than stay home and shatter individual records with inflated stats, Livingston chose to put winning first, teaming up with other high-level recruits in hopes of competing for a national championship.

He still got his numbers, obviously — 18.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game as a senior is nothing to scoff at — but it was for a greater purpose.

“It helps me take a load off offensively,” Livingston told KSR this offseason. “Being at the school I was before I had to do a lot more to impact winning but now I can do other stuff. I can scale back a little bit playing with high-level players, that helps a lot. It’s something you’ve always got to get used to as you reach the next level.

“Playing with better players can always be beneficial. You never want to blend in or waver your game, but you always want to be able to play with good players and not be selfish — cohesive.”

Livingston faced a similar predicament when it came time to make a college (or professional) decision. The five-star forward cut his list down to five options before committing, choosing between Kentucky, Memphis, Tennessee State, Georgetown and the NBA G-League Ignite. He also received offers from Alabama, Florida, Kansas, LSU, North Carolina, Ohio State, and Overtime Elite, among others.

Several options where Livingston would be the star on campus with unlimited shots and touches, along with a few pro options that would allow him to do the same while earning a salary. Either way, he’d coast for eight months putting up monster numbers before entering the draft.

Like he did as a senior in high school, Livingston once again chose the more difficult path. He signed with a program in Kentucky where nothing is promised and everything is earned. It’s a program loaded with five-star talent and future pros, one deep on the wing where a battle for starting spots is underway. Any of Livingston, Antonio Reeves and CJ Fredrick could start at the three — and that’s not counting other versatile pieces such as Cason Wallace, Jacob Toppin and Daimion Collins capable of sliding up and down the lineup.

To put it simply, there won’t be any coasting for Livingston in his time in Lexington. The Akron native has his work cut out for him in what could — and should — be his lone season of college basketball.

And that’s exactly the way he wants it.

Livingston didn’t come to Kentucky to be spoonfed. He came to play alongside other likeminded individuals who care about development and winning.

“You’re around guys that know the game, that are so talented in their own right when we play together,” Livingston told KSR. “There are no egos on the team, nothing like that. I get more enjoyment out of the game playing with guys like that. Being able to play with people that know the game and you’re still involved, for me, that’s better than shooting 30 shots a game not knowing if we’re going to win or lose that night. We have a lot of guys whose main goal is to win.”

Kentucky’s four-game exhibition tour in the Bahamas was a perfect example of that selfless, all-in mindset. Seven players averaged at least 9.5 points per contest, with three averaging at least 14.5. Overall, no player averaged more than 24.5 minutes or 11.5 shots per game.

And the Wildcats went 4-0 with an average margin of victory of 50 points per win, a complete and thorough domination from start to finish.

National championship trophies aren’t handed out in August, obviously, but it was a taste of what could be on the horizon when the real fun begins in the coming weeks.

“It’s still early, it’s preseason, so you don’t want to be too arrogant with how we did,” Livingston said. “We played well, but there are still a lot of things we need to improve on. But the team has crazy potential, we’re really deep and I’m really excited to be a part of it, honestly.

“We’re looking for No. 9 and that’s the end goal, for sure.”

While the team looked the part as a collective unit, Livingston was a clear individual standout in his own right. The five-star freshman averaged 9.8 points on a sensational 65.2 percent shooting and 60 percent from three (6-10) to go with 5.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game.

He didn’t go nuclear as a scorer, but he was wildly efficient and consistent on both ends of the floor. It started with an 11-point, 8-rebound effort in game one vs. the Dominican Republic National Select Team, followed by a 14-point, 10-rebound performance in game two vs. Tec de Monterrey. He then added seven points and five rebounds vs. Carleton University before closing out the event with seven points vs. the Bahamas National Select Team.

Despite being the seventh-leading scorer on the team overall, head coach John Calipari singled out Livingston as a top performer, specifically for his effort on the glass.

“I love what Chris Livingston is doing,” Calipari said. “When he came in, everything was one hand. Watching him in high school, it was always one-handed rebounds. All I’ve been on him about is two-handed rebounds, and if you look at every one he had, he was grabbing balls with two. I couldn’t be more proud of him. And then he gets eight rebounds because of it, against a team that was physical enough and big enough to take balls from us. Took them from Oscar (Tshiebwe), took them from Daimion (Collins) and Lance (Ware), they were legit.”

Again, winning basketball. It’s what Livingston hoped to add to the roster when he signed with Kentucky out of high school. He passed his first test with flying colors.

The Akron native used Tshiebwe as an example for his efforts and what he hopes to accomplish as a Wildcat. The star center dominated the college basketball world last season at Kentucky, winning every award the sport had to offer. He had the numbers, accolades, celebrity status, and now thanks to name, image and likeness, a substantial amount of pocket change.

Yet he remains the same win-first, team-first player with an endless motor and chip on his shoulder he was before it all. That’s what Livingston aspires to be at Kentucky. That’s why he chose this path.

“Oscar (Tshiebwe) is one of the most unselfish players I’ve ever known. National Player of the Year, this and that, but he just does his part,” Livingston told KSR. “He’s excited when everybody else is scoring, but then you’ll look up and he’ll have his points and his rebounds. And that’s just one aspect of it. I love it. Really, I love the team and I’m really excited to be with these guys. I really, honestly am.”

Like Tshiebwe, it’s a mindset he’s embraced off the floor, as well. Livingston signed countless autographs and took an endless number of pictures with fans throughout the week in the Bahamas. When the team partnered with Samaritan’s Feet during the trip to wash the feet of local children and distribute brand new shoes, the freshman forward was the last player to leave — not getting up until every kid in attendance was helped.

More importantly, he was engaged and went out of his way to learn their stories and share his own. He didn’t do it for the positive media attention, he did it out of kindness.

Basketball camp is well underway, but Chris Livingston is still sticking around and washing feet and distributing shoes pic.twitter.com/a2gTdElTR4

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) August 12, 2022

Some players aren’t built for Kentucky basketball. Chris Livingston isn’t one of those players.

On the floor, it certainly helps when you’re a physically imposing 6-foot-6, 220-pound wing capable of playing and guarding multiple positions. It’s why he was seen as one of the most college-ready recruits in the class of 2022 and a likely day-one impact player at this level. Too strong and physical for college twos and threes, yet too athletic and skilled for typical fours, Livingston is a living, breathing mismatch.

He’s a win-first player, but sometimes in order to win games, you’ve got to take things over yourself and dominate when the situation calls for it. The standout freshman has that ability.

However he’s needed, Livingston is ready.

“I’m just a basketball player. Whether I’ve got to be a two, three, or a four, I don’t really care,” he told KSR. “I don’t have an ego about positions and things like that, I’ll be comfortable wherever Coach wants to put me. I’m really comfortable with my teammates and the guys I have around me, they made me comfortable. The veterans and the older guys did. I think I was able to show that versatility is a key part of my game — and I’m still refining my game.”

If there was one knock on his game coming out of high school, it was his consistency as a shooter. His mechanics and shot selection were fine, but the efficiency wasn’t always there, ending the year shooting 33.3 percent from deep (24-72 overall) in 34 games. How would that translate to the college level? Would he be better suited as a small-ball four capable or knocking down the occasional three or could he be relied on as a go-to threat on the wing?

Shooting 60 percent from deep over four games in the Bahamas, he’s off to a good start proving the latter. The shots are falling in practice, as well.

“The 3-pointer is not something I’m going to fall in love with. There’s a lot more to my game than that,” Livingston told KSR. “Being in the gym, preseason, throughout the summer just working out, the three was falling. That’s going to be something I rely on during the regular season, but I’m not going to just key in on that. But I shot the ball really well and it helped our team out in a lot of aspects. Being as athletic as we are and how we can get out and run, if we can shoot like that in the regular season, that’s going to be tremendous for how we play this year.”

His teammates have high expectations, as well. Players with the physical tools and overall skill of Livingston don’t just come around every day.

“He’s very aggressive, he knows how to score the ball and he knows how to guard,” freshman guard Cason Wallace told KSR. “He’s very athletic, strong and he plays with great energy.”

“Chris has shoulders like Chin (Coleman),” point guard Sahvir Wheeler added. “He’s got big shoulders, and for him to be able to move around and shoot like that, it’s crazy.”

Speaking of Chin, the second-year Kentucky assistant knows the history of standout freshmen under Calipari in Lexington. Physically and mentally, some players are built a little bit differently than others.

Livingston, along with fellow five-star Cason Wallace, fit that description.

“Some of the freshmen who come here are a little bit different. These guys are a little bit different,” Coleman said. “They’re both fearless, but they have fear. They’re fearful of not being good enough or somebody coming up and knocking them off the pedestal, but they’re fearless in the way they play. They go out and play with reckless abandon and play really, really hard.”

After a full offseason working with Livingston, assistant coach KT Turner has similar optimism.

In his eyes, the sky is the limit for the Akron native.

“Chris is a guy who can do a lot,” Turner said. “He is really strong and athletic, he can make shots. He’s really buying in to how Cal wants to play. He’s got a big, big future ahead of him.”