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The Kentucky Wildcats have one of the most storied programs in NCAA history, bringing eight national championships to Lexington. They’ve recently been successful by bringing in many of the truly elite high school players in the nation.
Those players have turned into some of the best in the world.
The Athletic recently ranked the top 125 players in the NBA, and they did so with tiers.
None of the former Wildcats made it to the top tier, one with Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. However, the next several tiers were laced with Cats, starting with Davis who barely missed the top tier.
Let’s quickly break them down by tiers.
- 2A. Anthony Davis (LAL)
- 2C. Bam Adebayo (MIA)
These two are obvious, but I can’t say it doesn’t shock me that Adebayo cracked the second tier and Karl-Anthony Towns or Devin Booker didn’t. Both of those two have dominant individual numbers, and Booker’s lately had a ton of team success.
Both come in the third team with two other familiar UK guards.
- 3A. Devin Booker (PHX)
- 3B. Jamal Murray (DEN)
- 3B. Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN)
- 3B. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC)
While SGA and Murray both deserve to be in the third tier, so does Julius Randle.
- 4A. De’Aaron Fox (SAC)
- 4A. Julius Randle (NYK)
The fourth tier to the fifth tier has quite a drop-off. While PJ Washington and Immanuel Quickley have stardom written on them, it’s not quite obvious. Tier five is a good place for these last three.
- 5A. Immanuel Quickley (NYK)
- 5A. Nerlens Noel (NYK)
- 5A. PJ Washington (CHA)
Tyler Herro not being on this list is the most shocking part in relation to the Wildcats. However, after an incredible run in the bubble, he cooled off during his second season in the NBA.
That said, the Wildcats program, as you can tell, is dominant, and with several five-star recruits, they’re continuing to get some of the nation’s top prospects.