Karter Knox likes Kenny Payne, Louisville; wants to hear from Kentucky

Karter Knox is considered one of the top 20 prospects in the country from the 2024 class. Clocking in at 6-foot-5, 180 pounds, he already physically looks the part of a top-level recruit. Participating at the 20th annual Pangos All-American Camp the last few days in Las Vegas, it didn’t take long to see why scouts are intrigued with the younger brother of former Kentucky Wildcat, Kevin Knox.

However, unlike his brother who is five years his senior, Karter Knox hasn’t been hearing much directly from UK, although the staff is absolutely keeping tabs on him. The contact is there, but minimally so far. Instead, it’s been the in-state rival Louisville Cardinals getting in on the action. UL offered Knox roughly a week ago, joining Boise State, Arizona State, and Illinois on his offer sheet. Florida is also involved but has yet to extend a scholarship.

Knox got to know Louisville’s new head coach Kenny Payne from the latter’s time coaching Kevin while an assistant at Kentucky. Karter has been building a bond with the coach and program since those early days in Lexington.

“Good dude, good coach, good relationship, good coaching staff,” Knox told KSR this week about Coach Payne. “He’s the same guy, but he’s harder now.”

Knox is well-deserving of his Louisville offer, too. Playing mostly at the two or three, the rising high school junior at Tampa Catholic (FL) was named to Pangos’ Top 60 Cream of the Crop game to close out the event on Tuesday. Playing for Team Florida State over the weekend, Knox shook off some early jitters before settling down in front of many NBA scouts. He showcased an ability to score from multiple levels along with some sneaky playmaking abilities.

In reality, he’s used to being in the spotlight, stemming from Kevin’s well-documented commitment to Kentucky and subsequent NBA career. Karter had even been to Vegas plenty of times before for Kevin’s tournaments back in the day. Now, he’s a borderline five-star recruit just like his older brother was back in 2016. Watching Kevin’s development over the years has helped Karter with his own process.

“He impacted me a lot,” Knox said of his older brother. “Just seeing him in the league, learning from him, he’s been playing against the best of the best. So he always gives me tips and just helps me out with everything.”

The connection to Kentucky makes it easy for the Wildcat coaching staff to facilitate interest. However, that hasn’t been the case so far. Karter Knox doesn’t hear from UK all that much right now but said he would “love to” should the ‘Cats get more heavily involved. He still remembers his interactions with head coach John Calipari — and then-assistant Kenny Payne — during Kevin’s time at UK.

“Growing up before Kevin committed to Kentucky, I was not really watching Kentucky at all,” Karter said. “But when Kevin went there — Coach Cal treats everyone like family, he treated me like family. And coach KP, Kenny Payne. It was kind of a blessing that (Kevin) went there because obviously he got better.”

A self-described three-level scorer, Karter isn’t rushing anything with his recruitment. He says he’s wide open to any school that wants to reach out more, including Kentucky. With an entire year-plus of recruiting ahead of him, there will be plenty of time for the ‘Cats to decide if they want to go all-in on the brother of their 2018 SEC Freshman of the Year.