2 Kentucky Wildcats among top 100 NBA Draft prospects for 2022

The Kentucky Wildcats have been among the recruiting giants over the last decade, and that’s not looking to slow down. With John Calipari leading the charge, the program has perennially added some of the best high school talents.

This time around, Kentucky will be bringing in a plethora of players from the transfer portal to go with 5-star recruits TyTy Washington and Daimion Collins.

Both Washington and Collins were ranked among the top 100 NBA Draft prospects for 2022 by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.

Collins was ranked as a top-15 recruit in the 2021 class and the top recruit from Texas. Though a bit skinny at 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, Collins has a world of potential that NBA teams will watch unfold over the course of the 2021-22 college hoops season.

As for the 6-foot-3 Washington, expectations are high for the point guard who will enter as Kentucky’s top signee. Washington was ranked by 247 Sports as the top recruit from Arizona and the fourth-best point guard in the class. He had a composite score of .9944, which ranked 14th-best in the nation.

Both have high-ceiling futures and are expected to stay in Kentucky just one season. In terms of where they rank in next summer’s draft, Washington is currently sitting at No. 17 with Collins at No. 18 on Givony’s prospect list.

Kentucky didn’t have a player in what would be the lottery (the top 14 picks in the NBA Draft) with Auburn’s Jabari Smith at No. 7 being the highest-ranked SEC player.

That said, with the returning forwards Keion Brooks and Jacob Toppin to go with snipers like CJ Frederick and Dontaie Allen, the Wildcats should be the early-season favorite in the SEC.

After a difficult, Covid-19-stricken season, the Wildcats will be looking to have the biggest bounce-back season of any team in America. They certainly have the firepower to make it happen, even if it doesn’t have future lottery picks.

And be sure to go follow our Twitter page and ‘like’ our Facebook page to get all of the latest Kentucky Wildcats news, views and other fun stuff.