Sheppard and Dillingham have made a good impression on scouts.
The Kentucky Wildcats had the best recruiting class coming in the 2023-24 season. Unfortunately, coach John Calipari, as had happened in several previous years, wasn’t able to turn those high-level prospects into a contending team.
However, a few of those players are still set to join the NBA, and both Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard, who weren’t even considered among the team’s top three recruits, could now be top-10 picks.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania released the top-10 rankings, which are from teams that can access NBA Draft Combine information. That makes it way more important than any mock draft, as teams clearly view these two Cats as top-10 picks.
NBA released a 78-player list for the 2024 Draft Combine in Chicago this month. Teams vote on participants, which include Bronny James.
New “Top 10 Players” ranked for which teams are able to access Combine information: pic.twitter.com/AoRpaSnCFw
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 3, 2024
In their lone season with the Cats, both Dillingham and Sheppard showed their lofty ceiling. Dillingham averaged 15.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds per game, shooting 47.5% from the field.
For Sheppard, his efficiency is what scouts should marvel at. He shot 53.6% from the field and 55.5% from deep. For a guard, that’s mightily impressive. He averaged the third-most points on the team at 12.5. He was also the only player for Kentucky to average north of four assists and rebounds per game.
Who might take the two Cats is still yet to be known. They are expected to be lottery picks. Dillingham could be similar to Tyrese Maxey, who is the second-leading scorer for the Philadelphia 76ers. Sheppard’s ceiling could be that of Devin Booker, so it will be interesting to see how he can transform his game at the NBA level.
The duo was put in the same category as the ultra-talented Dalton Knecht, who spent last season at Tennessee and averaged 21.7 points per game. That said, the 2024 NBA Draft is set for June 26-27, so prepare yourself for those days to hear these former Cats called to their next destination.