Doron Lamb would've stayed all four years at Kentucky with NIL -- with untouchable shooting records

Kentucky does not win the national championship in 2012 without Doron Lamb, the former Wildcat sharpshooter going for a game-high 22 points in the 67-59 victory over Kansas to hang banner No. 8. It was the perfect way to finish a near-perfect postseason run, the Queens native scoring in double figures all six games with 16-plus in four of six and two 20-point outings.

Lamb was consistent, just as he was his entire career in Lexington. He averaged 12.3 points per contest in year one, 13.7 points in year two with shooting splits of 49/48/81 in 78 total games. Until Reed Sheppard came along in 2023-24, he held the all-time shooting record at Kentucky, knocking down 47.5 percent of his three-pointers on 303 attempts with 144 makes.

Thing is, he only averaged 3.9 attempts per game — 3.7 as a freshman, 4.1 as a sophomore. He was a coin-flip shooter, but didn’t get many opportunities with 1.8 conversions each time out. Keep that in mind, he says, when talking about the all-time greats in the blue and white.

“Let me tell y’all real quick. Look, y’all. Listen,” Lamb told KSR, clearly needing to get something off his chest. “Back in my era, back in my time playing basketball, I only averaged four attempts at the three-point line — but I averaged two makes. These kids now are shooting 10 threes, eight threes a game. If I would’ve done that back then, I would have averaged 20-plus. So that’s all I need to say.”

He’s got a good point. Take college basketball’s leading three-point shooter from a year ago, Belmont’s Tyler Lundblade. He knocked down 48.1 percent of his attempts — worse than Lamb’s year-one average as a Wildcat of 48.6 percent — but took 6.5 threes per game. Koby Brea may be the better example for BBN, finishing No. 9 nationally shooting 43.5 percent from deep on 5.9 attempts per contest in Lexington. Houston’s L.J. Cryer got up 7.3 three-pointers each night on 42.4 percent shooting to finish at No. 16 on his way to the national title game. Remember Lamar Wilkerson, who turned down Kentucky for Indiana in the transfer portal? 44.5 percent on 7.7 attempts at Sam Houston State, No. 7 nationally.

Could the efficiency match the volume? Lamb is almost offended by the question. Of course it would, because that’s what he does.

“For sure. If I get more shots, I’m making more shots. I’m a shot-maker,” he told KSR. “You gotta make shots to play in Coach Cal’s system because there are too many guys on the team. You only get eight, nine shots a game. That’s what I was, a shot-maker. If I’m gonna get 10 threes per night, I’m gonna make six easily.”

Doron Lamb with a message to BBN on where he stacks up among all-time Kentucky shooters

He’s proud of that 47.5% career average from three pic.twitter.com/djVReSdQco

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) July 14, 2025

Lamb playing in today’s game with more shots opens the door to the dream of NIL potentially keeping him in Lexington longer than the two years he stayed, leaving as a second-round pick after the title in 2012. He was taken with the No. 42 pick as a sophomore, but would’ve happily stuck around if the price was right.

What would that price be, exactly? Considering his status as a top-30 recruit making the McDonald’s All-American Game and Jordan Brand Classic, along with the obvious shooting efficiency that put him in the Kentucky record books, it’s safe to call him a seven-figure player.

His price tag would’ve certainly gone up after scoring 22 points in the championship game, too, making the opportunity too good to pass up. The two years we saw of Lamb in Lexington would have been four.

“Me coming in as a McDonald’s All-American? I would have needed a million dollars, minimum,” he said. “These kids are getting a million dollars to average three points; it’s crazy. I would’ve been a millionaire easily. I would have stayed, I ain’t gonna lie. After one championship, I would have stayed because I would have gotten a big bag. I would have stayed in college.”

Knowing what it would have meant to his legacy as a hooper, he wishes that’s how things unfolded.

“I would’ve still had records today — three-point records, points. I would have had a lot of records,” Lamb told KSR. “I wish I had done four years.”

D-Lamb could’ve been eating a whole lot more and sleeping a whole lot less in blue and white.