Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler makes decision on future

Kentucky point guard Sahvir Wheeler announced that he will return for the 2022 season, via his social media on Sunday afternoon. The decision reunites the former Georgia transfer with teammate Oscar Tshiebwe, who is returning after National Player of the Year honors in 2021-22.

Sahvir Wheeler started his college career at Georgia before transferring to Kentucky ahead of the 2021-22 season, leading the Wildcats to a 2-seed before an upset loss against 15-seed St. Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament.

At 5-foot-10, Wheeler earned All-SEC honors for the second time in his career last season. He averaged 10.1 points and 6.9 assists with 1.1 steals and just 3.0 turnovers per game. He also started 29 of 30 games he appeared in while playing alongside fellow point guard and freshman phenom TyTy Washington.

Kentucky brings in two more five-star recruits to compliment the returning core, which also includes Iowa transfer CJ Fredrick back from injury, for the 2022-23 season under John Calipari.

John Calipari on NBA Draft process

John Calipari spoke last week about the conversations he has with every player about where they stand in regards to the NBA Draft each offseason. With individual conversations between him and the players, many decisions have already been made.

“I met with every player,” Calipari said. “There were two I couldn’t get ahold of — I think one went home and the other’s phone had broken — but I met with everybody. With Daimion (Collins), I actually met with Daimion and his mom and dad. Some of the kids have decisions to test the (draft) waters.

“My advice to a couple of them was, you need to test the waters, but let’s talk about what you’re looking for so that there’s a plan of where they are and what opportunities they’re looking for, which would make them leave or come back. So we had those talks.”

Calipari noted Friday morning that he expected Wheeler, Fredrick, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware to return for the 2022-23 seasons along with Collins and Tshiebwe as well. Keion Brooks Jr. is still testing the NBA Draft waters, while Dontaie Allen (Western Kentucky) and Bryce Hopkins have elected to find new homes through the transfer portal.