Reid Travis’ father comments on his son’s NBA Draft stock

Three former Kentucky Wildcats are very likely to hear their name called in the first round of June’s NBA Draft.

PJ Washington, Tyler Herro, and Keldon Johnson are all projected to be selected early despite their limited time in college. Even EJ Montgomery might be a late second-round pick if he stays in.

However, Reid Travis, a fifth year senior, is not expected to be drafted.

Travis obviously chose to transfer to Kentucky with hopes of better preparing himself for a professional career and the chance at winning a national championship. He averaged 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds and was a major reason why the Cats just narrowly missed cutting down the nets in Midwest Regional.

But did he improve his NBA stock?

Reid’s Father, Nate Travis, provided his insight about where his son stands just a few weeks before the NBA draft.

“There’s still some uncertainty. We felt if he played at Kentucky, he’d have some certainty coming off the season. As a father, I’m a little concerned with that. I thought he’d have a little more of an understanding of when he’d fall in the draft.” Nate Travis told Jerry Tipton.

There were several stretches during the 2018-2019 season where the team would have been completely lost had it not been for Reid Travis. The Stanford grad transfer acted as an anchor to stabilize a team was riddled with underclassmen. His leadership was clearly as impactful as his stat line, which did see a major decline from his previous season at Stanford.

Reid’s father also commented on his son attempting to be that leader along with balancing his game on the court.

“He probably had more of a leadership role as far as helping younger players develop. Maybe his abilities got somehow shifted a little bit for the sake of helping younger players develop and understand the process.” Nate said. “He kind of took that role and kind of got away from what he wanted to do when he came there.”

Hopefully, Reid can find his way in professional basketball even if he’s not selected in this year’s NBA Draft. With the type of size and toughness that he possesses, I’m sure he will be just fine.