Film Room: Braydon Hawthorne

Coach Pope and company decided that they weren’t done quite yet. On April 21st, Denzel Aberdeen committed to Kentucky giving the ‘Cats, at the time 13 players. Many believed that was the final bow on the 2025-2026 roster. Then, just ahead of the April 22nd deadline, Travis Perry announced that he was hitting the transfer portal. The Wildcats eventually swapped him out for fellow Kentucky native Reece Potter who committed on May 5th. Once again, it was believed that the roster building process was complete. However, Braydon Hawthorne changed that when he chose Kentucky over Duke, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia on Tuesday night. Assuming Otega Oweh returns, Hawthorne, who was the highest ranked uncommitted prospect in the Class of 2025, is the 14th piece to the puzzle for next season.

Unranked a year ago, Hawthorne burst onto the scene in the winter months and first cracked the On3 Top 50 in February. The thin, 6’8″ wing chose West Virginia over low and mid-major offers and was committed to the Mountaineers until Coach Darian DeVries took the Indiana job. Now ranked #35 in the On3 Rankings, Hawthorne had a different set of suitors his second time around. West Virginia remained in the race until the end, but ultimately Coach Pope and Wildcats got it done. The promise of development and what it means to wear a Kentucky uniform won out over paths to earlier playing time and more NIL money. Hawthorne will benefit from the weight room and could be unrecognizable a year from now. The basketball talent is there, but in the short-term working on his body will be priority number one.

As always, we’ve been hard at work in the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s latest commitment. Coach Pope added a four-star, Top 40 wing to a Class of 2025 recruiting haul that includes McDonald’s All-American Malachi Moreno and Top 25 prospect Jasper Johnson. Hawthorne is a 6’8″ wing that has been a major stock-riser over the last year. He has the requisite positional size and length, but will need some time in a college wait room to get ready for the level of physicality. What the Huntington Prep product can do though is make shots. Hawthorne is a reliable catch-and-shoot threat and has the ball handling chops to create for himself in isolation. The impressive length comes in handy, no pun intended, on the defensive end of the floor as well. Let’s step inside the KSR Film Room and take a closer look at Braydon Hawthorne.

Catch-and-Shoot Ability

If you are looking for a skill that, in theory, could translate right away it is Braydon Hawthorne’s shooting ability. At 6’8″ he spaces the floor very well on the wing and has shown the ability to pick-and-pop or slip-to-pop for three-point shots. Hawthorne’s base is very narrow shooting with his feet very close together, but his upper half looks good. He has a tendency to dip on the catch a bit which leads to a longer release as well. However, his size helps to combat a couple of the flaws in his form. The projection here would be something along the lines of Kentucky teammate Kam Williams. Williams, who is much further along physically, made 63 three-point shots at 41.2% as a freshman at Tulane. A year in Kentucky’s weight room could set up Hawthorne for that sort of production down the road.

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Phenom United ran a good screen-the-screener set from sideline out-of-bounds in this clip. Hawthorne set a little diagonal backscreen and then ran off of a staggered double to the top of the key. He did a great job of squaring his shoulders and setting his feet before firing. Given the space and time to get off a clean look Hawthorne isn’t going to miss many. It is good to see shot-making that translates to the collegiate level. This sort of set play could be ran in Lexington for the four-star wing.

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Brayden Hawthorne has probably 20-30 pounds to add before he would ever see minutes at the “4” in the Southeastern Conference. However, that doesn’t mean Coach Pope can’t get creative and find ways for him to pick-and-pop. In this clip you see him set the second screen after a little hand back. The defense doesn’t switch and it leaves Hawthorne wide open beyond the arc. Again, when given time and space, he isn’t going to miss many.

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This clip is similar to the previous one that we broke down. However, this time Hawthorne slips out of the screen to a pop at the top of the key. As a ballscreener he will force defenses to switch, but smaller defenders could have a hard time guarding the 6’8″ skilled wing. If there is a world where Braydon Hawthorne earns minutes as a freshman at Kentucky it will be due to his ability to make three-point shots.

Shot-Creation Ability

Braydon Hawthorne handles the ball very well on the perimeter. In order for it to translate to the high-major level he will have to get stronger, but the ball handling ability is certainly there. He is shifty enough to change directions and create separation while possessing the length and athleticism to elevate into his jump shot. Additionally, Hawthorne is a good playmaker given his size. At 6’8″ he is a legitimately good passer off of the dribble. Those playmaking chops should flourish in Coach Pope’s offensive system. His upside as a secondary playmaker and isolation threat is what gets you excited about his future at Kentucky.

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This is Braydon Hawthorne going one-on-one against the top recruit in the 2025, AJ Dybantsa. Hawthorne won’t win that battle athletically or physically, but he still found a way to score on one of the best defenders in the country. After a couple of dribble moves on the left wing, Hawthorne drove to the right elbow, stopped, pump faked, and got Dybantsa up in the air. From there he had a clean step through for a little floater finish in the lane.

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Hawthorne projects very well as a secondary playmaker in Coach Pope’s offense. His ability to create off of the bounce, draw help, and read the defense, especially at his height, is impressive. He has proven to have the ability to make sound decisions at full speed from a live dribble. For example, in this clip, he sees the help defense slid towards the baseline which triggers the pass back out to the perimeter for an open three-point shot. Hawthorne has the ability to become a high-level passer at Kentucky. He will benefit from playing in space while surrounded by talented players.

Positional Length Creates Havoc Defensively

Not only does Braydon Hawthorne have good positional height at 6’8″, but his 7’3″ wingspan takes it to another level. Those long, lanky arms allow him to get numerous deflections and be very disruptive in the passing lanes. Like many of Kentucky’s incoming wings, Hawthorne flashes some intriguing shot-blocking ability as well. Bulking up his very thin 175-pound frame will be a prerequisite to really being able to guard in the Southeastern Conference, but the raw tools are certainly there. Hawthorne has a good feel defensively, plays hard, and can get his hands on a lot of balls. There is a lot of “3-and-D” upside for Hawthorne as you project him to the professional level.

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This is the perfect example of how Braydon Hawthorne utilizes his length. There is also a good glimpse of his basketball IQ in this clip as well. Hawthorne tags down to the midline to shrink the floor, but then explodes into the passing lane for a steal that leads to a dunk on the other end. Being 6’8″ with a 7’3″ wingspan allows him to cover a ton of ground on the defensive end.

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Kentucky has gotten significantly more athletic from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026. One of the biggest examples of that is the shot-blocking that will come from the perimeter. Mouhamed Dioubate, Kam Williams, and Braydon Hawthorne are all 6’7″-6’8″ wings that have legitimate shot-blocking ability. Add in the athleticism of guys like Otega Oweh and Collin Chandler and you can definitely expect some blocked shots to come from Kentucky’s perimeter positions. Once again, this is where having a 7’3″ wingspan comes into play. The first clip shows Hawthorne coming across the lane to block a shot at the rim while the second clip displays his ability to stay with the ball handler off of the dribble and then be the second jumper to block the shot attempt.

Braydon Hawthorne Evaluation

There are clear paths to Braydon Hawthorne becoming a real player at the University of Kentucky. However, there are also som pretty clear prerequisites to clear before that ever happens. The 6’8″ four-star wing will come to Lexington at about 175 pounds. That won’t cut it in the Southeastern Conference. When he adds 15-30 pounds though his skill level will blossom and Hawthorne could become a difference-maker. He possesses catch-and-shoot ability, playmaking ability in isolation situations, and the length to be a disruptive force on the perimeter defensively. It isn’t likely that we see many flashes of Hawthorne’s potential in 2025-2026, but he is the perfect late roster addition that could flourish in years down the road in Lexington.