By Jonathan Coffman
Special to NKyTribune
A record-tying six former Kentucky players were selected in the NBA Draft Thursday night, including the first overall pick, Karl-Anthony Towns, by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kentucky held the previous record of players drafted from one school with six in 2012.
Towns is the third Kentucky player selected first overall and each has come during the John Calipari era, including John Wall in 2010 and Anthony Davis in 2012. Minnesota now has the first overall picks from the past three years on its roster after trading Kevin Love for Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett last summer.
Willie Cauley-Stein was selected sixth overall by the Sacramento Kings and will join one-time Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins. The 2015 NABC Defensive Player of the Year was predicted to slip in the draft due to concerns about a foot injury suffered in a tournament game against Louisville in 2014, according to DraftExpress President Jonathan Givony.
Nearing the end of the lottery, two Kentucky players still projected to be taken off the board. Ironically, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker were selected back-to-back.
Lyles was taken with the No. 12 pick by the Utah Jazz. The Jazz traded ex-Kentucky power forward Enes Kanter during the season, leaving the position. Lyles often played small forward for the Wildcats, but is projected to be an athletic stretch power forward in the NBA.
Booker was selected by the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have a run-and-gun offense and were looking for a versatile scorer. Some mock drafts had Lyles being picked by Phoenix at No. 13, leading them to take Kentucky’s three-point specialist instead once the forward was off the board.
Booker will become the fourth former Wildcat guard on the Suns roster, joining Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Archie Goodwin.
Andrew Harrison was the first Kentucky player to be drafted in the second round. The Phoenix Suns chose their second Kentucky guard of the draft with the No. 44 overall pick, but later traded the rights to Harrison to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Center Dakari Johnson was the last former Wildcat taken in the draft, going 48th overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Johnson will join Kanter, another one-time big man for the Wildcats who was part of the program but never actually got on the floor for Calipari.
A third Kentucky player was consecutively taken following Booker and Lyles, but he wasn’t a former Wildcat. Murray State’s Cameron Payne was drafted No. 14 overall by the Thunder. Payne is the highest-selected Murray State player ever, topping Isaiah Canaan, who was taken with the No. 34 pick in 2013.
Former Louisville Cardinals made their presence known at the draft as well. Terry Rozier was selected by the Boston Celtics with the No. 16 pick. The former Cardinal will join James Young, once a rival of Rozier’s while a shooting guard at Kentucky.
The Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Montrezl Harrell barely slipped out of the first round, but was selected by the Houston Rockets with the No. 32 overall pick. Terrence Jones, a forward on Kentucky’s 2011-2012 championship team, is currently the starting power forward for the Rockets and the ex-Louisville big man’s competition for minutes.
While nine players from the state of Kentucky were drafted Thursday, one saw himself slip out of the draft altogether. Aaron Harrison, the consistent hero of the Wildcats’ 2013-2014 NCAA tournament run, was not picked. Harrison will join the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA Summer League, ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported on Friday.
Rookies will begin preparing for their debut season July 4, participating in the NBA Summer League. The games are broadcasted from Orlando, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas on NBA TV.
Jonathan Coffman is a senior journalism major at the University of Kentucky and an intern for KyForward.com