The Kentucky Wildcats are out of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 3 seed Wildcats have suffered another heartbreaking end to their campaign after losing to the No. 14 Okland Golden Grizzlies on Thursday, 80-76, in what will probably go down as the biggest upset of the opening round.
This likely also marks the end of Reed Sheppard’s short-lived career in Kentucky with the 19-year-old expected to enter the 2024 NBA Draft.
Is Kentucky Wildcats’ Reed Sheppard Austin Reaves 2.0?
Should this be Sheppard’s last game in a Wildcats uniform, the young man, unfortunately, was not able to end on a high note. The 6-foot-3 guard finished with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting against Oakland, to go along with four assists, two steals, one triple, and two turnovers in 26 minutes of action.
Thursday’s forgettable swansong wasn’t a rightful representation of what this kid can do on the basketball court. In fact, this one game likely won’t have a significant enough impact on his draft stock. The North Laurel High School product remains high on mock drafts, with Bleacher Report, for instance, projecting him to go No. 3 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.
One longtime NBA executive even sees shades of Los Angeles Lakers rising star Austin Reaves in Sheppard:
“Sheppard is a fun player to watch,” the anonymous exec told HoopsHype. “He’s very crafty in everything he does. He’s a knockdown shooter. He moves the ball, and it doesn’t stick with him. He’s a quick thinker on the court. He makes winning plays. I’d be a little worried that even though he gets a lot of steals, he gambles a little bit too much at times. He’s not afraid of the spotlight playing at Kentucky, where he has a lot of pressure on him as a homegrown kid from the state. He and a guy like Austin Reaves have that inner confidence and believe in their abilities, which translates to the floor.”
It’s not just the confidence level that Sheppard shares with Reaves. Now that the comparison has been placed out there, you can’t help but find at least a few similarities in their game. If Sheppard ends up achieving the same level of success Reaves has with the Lakers thus far, then any team out there will be lucky to scoop this young man up in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft.
For More NBA Content:
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA, and follow us @HardwoodHeroics. You can also reach out to Paolo Songco via email at [email protected]. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest NBA news, click here!