LOOK: Kentucky's TyTy Washington posts, quickly deletes major announcement

Kentucky guard TyTy Washington has not yet made a decision on his future with the Wildcats, but he appeared to have given fans a bit of a sneak-peek into his plans, only to quickly delete the post a mere few minutes later.

UPDATE: Washington’s father, Tee, quickly shot down the validity of this “since-deleted” Instagram story. On3 was unable to validate the screenshot posted by Josh Berrian, but Washington’s father claimed the post was false, saying, “That was picture is what a fan took, and they tag him in and put the caption up!! (TyTy) never had this on his IG story!!”

Washington, who just finished up his true freshman season at Kentucky, reportedly posted an Instagram story on March 27 that said, “Off to the league” in the caption, perhaps indicating that he’ll declare for the NBA Draft. The post, which was screenshotted and shared on Twitter by Josh Berrian, was apparently deleted moments later.

TyTy Washington posted this on his Instagram story. It’s no longer there though 👀😯😩 #BBN pic.twitter.com/sbLpEGOijN

— Josh Berrian (@_joshonair) March 27, 2022

A 6-foot-3, 197-pound guard, Washington’s season ended earlier than expected, as the No. 2-seeded Kentucky Wildcats were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the first round by the No. 15-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks. Washington struggled in that game, scoring just five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field, while grabbing two rebounds and one assist. On the season, Washington averaged 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists per contest, while shooting 45.1 percent from the field.

Entering the NCAA Tournament, Washington was a projected high-level NBA Draft pick, per ESPN. In a Mock Draft by Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz, Washington was the projected No. 9 pick, going off the board to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round.

“Washington is a highly skilled 6-foot-4 guard with the type of winning pedigree that bodes well for March. Those who followed him closely through high school have long raved about his competitiveness and winning spirit, which despite nagging injuries did shine through at times during his freshman campaign,” the ESPN article said. “Washington plays a relatively simple game, thriving off transition hit-aheads, spot 3s, closeout attacks, midrange pull-ups, floaters and occasional ball screens, for which he makes the right play more often than not.

“While Washington isn’t the most dynamic player or overly shifty ball handler, scouts will be studying his ball skills and ability to break down his man, as he has been far more efficient and effective against lesser teams, boasting a 50.5 true shooting percentage (TS%) in 21 games against teams with a winning record versus a 61.5 TS% in nine games against teams under .500.”

Washington entered Kentucky this season with high expectations, given his status as a recruit. And while the season did not ultimately end as the Wildcats had hoped, Washington still lived up to his recruiting status. He was tabbed a five-star recruit coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Furthermore, Washington was the No. 4 point guard and No. 16 overall recruit in the 2021 recruiting class.