John Calipari provides update on relationship with Kenny Payne amid recruiting battle

The race for five-star guard DJ Wagner isn’t just a race between Kentucky and Louisville. It’s a race between two close friends.

Kenny Payne and John Calipari have a long-standing relationship, dating to Payne’s time as an assistant under Calipari at Kentucky. Now, Payne is the head coach at Louisville and the two are pitted against one another for Wagner — the No. 2 recruit in the nation from the class of 2023, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

But Calipari said the battles on the recruiting trail won’t impact his relationship with Payne.

“Kenny’s my brother and he’s family,” Calipari told reporters. “I wish him well except when we play them. I hope he gets his head bashed in when we play them. Other than that, I hope they win every game. Will we recruit against them? Some. But that never has been an issue with Kentucky and Louisville in recruiting. Some, but it’s not like every kid we’re recruiting, they’re recruiting.

“I want him to go out and do well. This is his chance. This is his opportunity to prove himself, and you’re going to see — I’ve said it all along, they should’ve hired him five years ago at Louisville. But they got him now, he’s surrounding himself with good people. He is a good person, so I think it’s going to go fine.”

The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine gives Kentucky a 59.4% chance of landing Wagner, including a prediction in the Wildcats’ favor from On3 national recruiting analyst Jamie Shaw with 95% confidence. Both teams are doing what they can to land Wagner’s commitment, too. Louisville hired Milt Wagner — his grandfather — to an off-court role, which is likely to help counter the fact that Wagner’s dad played for Calipari at Memphis and still has a relationship with him.