The last two Kentucky Wildcats under John Calipari have been selected in the first top 10 picks of the 2024 NBA Draft. Reed Sheppard went third overall to the Houston Rockets, while Rob Dillingham was selected eighth, going to the Minnesota Timberwolves after a trade with San Antonio.
Sheppard played one year at Kentucky. The London, Kentucky native is the third Kentucky guard to have been selected in the top five of the NBA draft within the last 30 years.
Over the course of 33 games with the Wildcats, the guard averaged 12.5 points, 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals over the course of the 2023-24 season. He also shot 52.1% from the three-point line, which no first round pick has done since Glen Rice from Michigan in 1988-89.
Dillingham was taken five picks after Sheppard by the San Antonio Spurs, who traded the pick to Minnesota. He joins another UK fan favorite in Karl Anthony Towns who was part of the 52-26 record squad that made it to the Western Conference Finals last postseason.
Dillingham and Sheppard are the 48th and 49th NBA draft picks under former UK head coach John Calipari, who left after 13 years with the program to head to Arkansas as its newest coach. UK has now had at least one player taken in the first round of the NBA draft every year for the last 15 years.
