Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin go undrafted

Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston will be the lone members of Kentucky‘s 2023 NBA Draft Class, going No. 10 overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder (via Dallas) and No. 58 to the Milwaukee Bucks, respectively.

The program’s other two draft-eligible prospects, Oscar Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin, did not hear their names called out of 58 total picks on Thursday. Instead, the pair of former Wildcats will look to sign deals as undrafted free agents.

Tshiebwe closed out the draft process as ESPN’s No. 60 overall available prospect, followed by Toppin at No. 86 overall — the former seen as a potential selection and the latter a likely target for a two-way deal.

The 6-foot-9 center becomes the first Naismith Award winner in history to not be selected in the NBA Draft. He closed out his second season in Lexington and fourth season overall averaging 16.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. His first year at Kentucky was one of the most dominant in recent memory, averaging 17.4 points, 15.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per contest, shattering nearly every record the school had to offer.

Tshiebwe also earned the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s best center while bringing home SEC Player of the Year and First-Team All-SEC honors. He closed out his senior campaign with unanimous Second-Team All-America honors (Associated Press, USBWA, NABC and The Sporting News) to become just the ninth player in Kentucky history to earn unanimous All-America accolades in two seasons.

As for Toppin, he finished his senior campaign as a Wildcat averaging 12.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31.5 minutes per contest. He closed out his career averaging 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in three seasons. Before that, the Brooklyn native put up 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his freshman year at Rhode Island.

Where will their basketball journeys continue at the next level? We’ll find out shortly.