Quade Green’s high school coach opens up about transfer rumors

John Calipari may be pushing Quade Green to stay at UK, but it sounds like those around him aren’t too thrilled about how he’s been used.

In an interview with Fletcher Page of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Green’s high school coach, Carl Arrigale, opened up about the ongoing transfer rumors, as well as why they may be running rampant.

Arrigale went into detail about his displeasure with Green’s role as a freshman at UK. It came in large part due to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becoming the starting point guard, which led to Green becoming an off-ball guard over the last two months of the season.

Now, Arrigale wonders if Green is willing to accept that could happen again with other point guards coming in, including Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickley, and possibly Tyrese Maxey.

“They stuck him (Green) in the corner to have somebody stand next to him and let Shai play with the ball,” said Arrigale. “When the ball came to him, he was expected to make it, and he made most of them. But the games he didn’t make them, it didn’t look like he did anything. It didn’t look like he brought anything to the table because he never had a chance to make a play.”

Another reason why Arrigale thinks Green is unhappy is because if he’s going to make the NBA, it will have to be as a point guard. Green is far too small to play anything else in the NBA, but if he’s constantly playing off the ball in college, his NBA dreams may never come true.

“I know he wants to play in the NBA and he’s not going to be an NBA 2-guard,” said Arrigale. “That’s the only thing I think that concerns him.”

Arrigale isn’t the only one around Green that may be unhappy.

On Wednesday, a report emerged that La Salle could be a landing spot if Green leaves UK, though it looks unlikely. Not long after that, KSR reported that a source close to Green was quite unhappy over his role.

As a side note, one source close to Quade Green told KSR those at home believe he wasn’t used properly in his first season at Kentucky.

“I thought he did well especially since he had to do a lot of adapting considering his role changed a few different times,” the source said. “He definitely has more to offer than he was asked to give is all I can say.“

At the end of the day, it’s really no one’s fault that Green wasn’t used as much as he’d hoped as a freshman. Shai emerged as one of the better guards in college basketball and a likely lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

Green simply wasn’t the best option at point guard, but that could easily change in his sophomore season with Shai now off to the NBA.

And while Green did well in his brief stint as UK’s starting point guard, it’s not a job he should just be handed going into next season. Calipari was smart to bring in Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans to compete for the job.

Now, is Calipari getting a little greedy by trying to add Tyrese Maxey and/or Jalen Lecque?

Maybe, but they’re more combo guards that could play the 2 or 3 spots at UK. Whatever they do shouldn’t determine if Green leaves or stays at UK.

It’s on Green to prove he’s the best point guard and win the job next season, regardless of who’s on the roster.

But, if he thinks he’s better off going elsewhere, then he needs to make the best decision for himself.