New 2024 NBA Draft Big Board has Reed Sheppard at No. 6

If the last couple weeks of Kentucky basketball have shown us anything, it’s that Reed Sheppard likely won’t be staying in Lexington past this season. But could he wind up as a top 10 NBA Draft pick next summer?

Over at The Athletic, Sam Vecenie unveiled his first 2024 NBA Draft Big Board on Wednesday morning. And who did he have sitting pretty at No. 6 overall? Mr. Reed Sheppard.

“This is the eye-opener of the board,” Vecenie wrote. “Sheppard has, in my opinion, clearly been the best freshman in college basketball thus far. In terms of deriving value for his team, I don’t think it’s all that close. So it was hard to rank him much lower than this.”

Vecenie had plenty of good things to say about the kid from London, KY — nearly 800 words worth of good things, actually. Vecenie calls Sheppard his “favorite player in the country to watch so far in college hoops”, pointing to his sky-high plus/minus, elite shooting abilities, impressive skill, and even better feel for the game on both ends of the floor. The biggest knock Vecenie could find against Sheppard was his lack of size and struggles to defend on the ball — the latter an area that Kentucky fans (and head coach John Calipari) have noticed as well.

As Vecenie sees it, there is no clear player comparison for Sheppard right now. But that’s not a bad thing. Sheppard does a lot of what NBA scouts and personnel are looking for right now. Freshmen guards are rarely good at defense, so that’s an area he can be expected to improve in over time. Vecenie also adds that, while NBA front office executives don’t believe right now that Sheppard is worthy of being the potential No. 6 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, they do have a hard time seeing him fall outside of the lottery.

Could you imagine hearing all of this just two months ago?

Several other Kentucky players cracked Vecenie’s Big Board too, which consists of 100 NBA prospects. He has freshman wing Justin Edwards at No. 14, freshman guard Rob Dillingham at No. 15, freshman guard DJ Wagner at No. 32, freshman enter Aaron Bradshaw at No. 44, sophomore wing Adou Thiero at No. 66, and fifth-year senior Antonio Reeves at No. 73.

Vecenie isn’t the only media member fawning over Sheppard either. Also on Wednesday morning, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf called Sheppard “the biggest surprise of the season so far”. Earlier this week, the worldwide leader projected Sheppard as the No. 22 overall pick in the next draft.

Through eight games this season, Sheppard is averaging 13.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.0 steals in just 26.6 minutes per game. He’s shooting the ball at an elite clip: 61.9 percent from the field, 61.1 percent from beyond the arc (on 4.5 attempts per game), and a perfect 100 percent from the free throw line (11-11). Not a bad start to his college career, huh?

At this rate, there might not be enough NIL money in all of Kentucky to keep Sheppard around for a sophomore season.