The NBA Draft is less than two months away. That leaves plenty of time for some former Kentucky Wildcats to boost their individual stock. As the calendar shifts over to May, a couple of ‘Cats are showing up on mock drafts.
The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie released his updated 2025 NBA Mock Draft on Thursday morning. In it, he had both Koby Brea and Amari Williams going late in the second round of the 59-pick draft.
- No. 54 – Indiana Pacers: Koby Brea | 6-7 wing | 23 years old
- No. 59 – Houston Rockets (via Oklahoma City Thunder): Amari Williams | 6-11 big | 23 years old
Brea’s name has been mentioned in mock drafts by multiple platforms, including ESPN. Most projections have him in the same range as Vecenie: somewhere in the late second round. But Williams’ name hasn’t been showing up as often. The versatile big man is beginning to receive some love with several more weeks to build on it even further.
Brea’s size and sharpshooting ability are exactly what NBA teams are searching for in this modern era of hoops. The former Dayton transfer shot 43.5 percent from deep last season at UK and is a career 43.4 percent shooter from distance across his five college seasons. But he also showed some improved playmaking and defensive skills in the second half of his season at Kentucky.
As for Williams, he’d likely be a first-round pick if he could shoot from three-point range. But even without that ability, he’s one of the most skilled players in this entire draft. Williams effectively ran Kentucky’s offense, averaging 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per outing while shooting a career-high 56.1 percent from the field.
There’s a very real chance both Brea and Williams hear their names called next month. The 2025 NBA Draft will be held from June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
No mention of Otega Oweh
Kentucky’s ceiling for the 2025-26 season depends largely on the status of rising senior guard Otega Oweh. After making Second Team All-SEC in his first year as a Wildcat, he’ll be a likely candidate for SEC Player of the Year in year two. But that depends on whether he comes back to Lexington or not. Oweh is currently going through the NBA Draft process and has until May 28 to make a stay-or-go decision.
So it’s notable whenever Oweh’s name is not listed in any of these mock drafts. The Athletic left him off its 59-pick mock. The expectation is that, barring a first-round guarantee from an NBA franchise, he’ll be back wearing the blue and white next season. Incoming transfer point guard Jaland Lowe is in a similar situation, but he’s even lower on NBA Draft Big Boards than Oweh is.
“Otega is going through this draft process, and we’re cheering for him every step of the way — but I know a lot of his heart is back here at Kentucky,” Mark Pope told Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports on Wednesday.
While the Big Blue Nation certainly wants Oweh to perform well during the pre-draft process, they likely don’t want him to perform too well.
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