Wait, Larry Bird was almost a Kentucky Wildcat? "(They) quit recruiting me."

Larry Bird is a 12-time NBA All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, three-time MVP, three-time world champion, two-time Finals MVP, an Olympic gold medalist and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s inarguably one of the greatest players to ever pick up a basketball.

But did you know he was almost a Kentucky Wildcat?

The Hick from French Lick sat down with NBA greats Reggie Miller and Isiah Thomas on TNT’s Basketball Stories to, well, share their basketball stories. In the 48-minute conversation between three of Indiana basketball’s most important figures — Bird with Indiana State, Thomas with Indiana University and Miller with the Indiana Pacers — Larry Legend opened up about his path from high school to college to the NBA.

Bird originally signed with Indiana to play for Bob Knight, but left campus after 24 days in 1974 due to financial struggles back home. He then went to Indiana State and racked up 2,850 career points, 1,247 rebounds, 435 assists and 240 steals over three seasons from 1976-79 before his 13-year NBA career with the Boston Celtics.

But his heart was actually in Lexington, wanting to play for Joe B. Hall at Kentucky. The Wildcats, though, stopped recruiting him, forcing him to choose between the two in-state schools.

“I wanted to go to Kentucky, but Kentucky quit recruiting me, so it was down to Indiana State and IU,” Bird said. “So I went to IU. Financially I couldn’t stay. I just couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do it. It wasn’t that I was homesick or didn’t like the coach. One thing about me, the coaches coach and the players play. Whatever they tell you, you’ve got to do. You may not like it, but you’ve got to do it. That’s what they do, that’s their expertise. I don’t think me and Coach Knight would have had a problem.”

Larry Bird says he wanted to go to Kentucky to play college basketball but they quit recruiting him…

Could you imagine. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/3FAmwvxeNe

— Tres Terrell (@TerrellTres) February 21, 2024

After his 24-day stint with the Hoosiers, he hitchhiked home 50 miles from Bloomington to French Lick and practiced for six weeks with Northwood Institute in West Baden before ultimately signing with the Sycamores in 1975. And the rest was history.

Now, Kentucky wound up losing in the NCAA Regional Final in ’77 before winning the whole thing in ’78, so the Cats weren’t too heartbroken about missing out on the all-time talent. But could you imagine Bird and Goose Givens tearing up the Rupp Arena hardwood together? Or better yet, picking up where Givens left off in ’79 when Bird led Indiana State to the national title game in a year the Cats finished 19-12 to miss the NCAA Tournament?

Oscar Combs, basketball historian and Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame member, shared his side of the story on Tuesday.

“It’s a long, somewhat complicated conversation and one with disagreeable takes,” Combs said of Kentucky’s pursuit of Bird. “One UK official told me UK’s then rigid academic criteria for out-of-state students prevented UK from pursuing him, but would have been accepted had he lived in Ky. Others say that wasn’t the case.”

The details may be murky, but the final result was what it was. Add Bird to the all-time what-ifs for Kentucky basketball, a list that includes Shawn Kemp, Dirk Nowitzki and Tracy McGrady, among others.