John Calipari on Kentucky’s NIL stance, Oscar Tshiebwe’s Stay/Go Decision

You’ve gotta give John Calipari credit; the man knows how to take over the conversation. Hours after Hunter Dickinson picked Kansas over Georgetown, Kentucky, Maryland, and Villanova, Calipari launched a media tour of sorts, going on “The Dan Patrick Show” and doing an interview with Fox Sports’ John Fanta on a variety of topics. His comments about being at Kentucky for six more years steal the headlines, but equally as interesting and important is what he said about Kentucky’s stance on Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and Oscar Tshiebwe‘s forthcoming stay/go decision.

Yesterday, Matt Jones reported that Kentucky refusing to guarantee NIL money to Dickinson is one reason the Cats fell out of favor for the prized transfer. That coincides with what Jack Pilgrim heard about the program pitching Dickinson on the opportunity to earn NIL through performance and brand building rather than getting into bidding wars with other schools. Calipari affirmed the program’s stance regarding NIL in both interviews today.

“You do not come to Kentucky because of NIL,” Calipari told Fanta. “You’ll do better here because of what happens when you are a player here. You’ll do well in NIL here, but if that’s the overriding thing, you’re not coming here.”

He doubled down on that with Dan Patrick, mentioning Jacob Toppin’s AT&T commercial (“our guys make more than anybody”) and the number of players (“12-13”) who have come through the program in recent years that have earned max contracts in the NBA with more to come in the next few years.

“You talk about name, image, and likeness, I don’t like to get into that with players, because you don’t come to Kentucky [for NIL]. I call that tripping over nickels to try to get to an NBA max contract.”

When Patrick argued that NIL negotiations are a fact of life in recruiting now and kids simply want what others are getting at other schools, Calipari said he only wants players who want to come to Kentucky for the right reasons.

“I don’t want to go in and the first thing I talk about is name, image, and likeness. That’s not why you come to Kentucky. It isn’t. Yet, you are going to do better [at Kentucky] than anywhere else you go, but why talk about that? Literally, you’re coming here — I’ve had many players say their first year in the NBA was at Kentucky. All that we did, how we practiced, how we competed. And that’s what’s happened.”

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Calipari on Oscar Tshiebwe’s Stay-or-Go Decision

With Dickinson headed to Kansas, all eyes turn to Oscar Tshiebwe, who is currently testing the waters of the NBA Draft. Oscar is back on campus this weekend for graduation and has been spotted at the Joe Craft Center. Calipari told Patrick he met with Oscar yesterday to discuss his future and that he’s spoken to several NBA teams, including an owner, to figure out where — or if — Oscar may be drafted. He also mentioned that Oscar has workouts lined up with teams over the coming days.

“My thing, right now, is to do everything I can to help Oscar get in that league because I believe he’ll stay,” Calipari told Patrick. “Do I want to coach Oscar another year? Yes! What am I, stupid? Stupid?! Yes, I want to coach him another year. But, if I’m doing right by him, I’ve gotta give him every opportunity to run this out and see exactly where he is.”

Oscar has until May 31 to decide whether or not he will keep his name in the draft or return to college for a final season. The NBA Draft Combine takes place in the coming weeks, and if Oscar gets an invite, could be pivotal to his decision.

“He’s been great and we’ve been great,” Calipari said of Oscar to Fanta. “I told him to go for it. If you want to come back, you can come back, but you’ve gotta go for it. Don’t shortchange yourself. We have stayed in touch. We haven’t done much in the portal. We’ve recruited one kid (while Calipari did not say, that player is reportedly Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson, who committed to Kansas Wednesday). Most of that recruiting effort has been my staff. We’ve got a good group.”

The wait continues.