John Calipari isn’t the only one leaving Kentucky.
As expected, freshman guard Rob Dillingham announced on Tuesday he was leaving the Wildcats to enter the NBA Draft, where he is projected as a top-10 — maybe top-5 — pick.
Now on NBA Today: Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham declares for the 2024 NBA Draft! pic.twitter.com/nLlVAb46Ca
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) April 9, 2024
Dillingham is one of the biggest rolls of the dice in a draft full of them — his ceiling and his floor are Sistine Chapel levels apart.
Dillingham is a bucket getter—he’s got one of the better handles in the draft. He’s incredibly quick with the ball and can get to the rim but destroys defenders with pull-up jumpers from the midrange and 3. He knocks down off-balance shots with the best of them, and he’s become a dangerous shooter from distance, hitting 44.4% of his 4.5 3-point attempts a game this season.
He’s also undersized — 6'2" and 170 pounds — and is arguably the worst defender in this draft. All that leads to some Trae Young kind of comparisons — he can score but is the defense worth it if he starts? Can he develop into a pure point guard? Is Dillingham destined to be a microwave scorer off the bench in the Lou Williams/Jamal Crawford mold?
NBA front offices are asking themselves those questions in earnest now because Dillingham is headed to the draft. Most projections have him going anywhere from fourth through eighth in the first round, which team in that range will fall in love with Dillingham? Or at least talk themselves into him.
