Former Kentucky forward Lance Ware will play in NBA Summer League

Photo of Lance Ware by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

How about Lance (Ware making an NBA Summer League roster?)

It’s been a couple of years since Ware was rocking the Kentucky blue and white, cementing himself as an all-time fan favorite in Lexington along the way. But now he’s looking to take the next step in his basketball career. Up first? A chance to prove himself in Las Vegas. The New York Knicks announced Monday that Ware has been named to the team’s 2025 Summer League roster.

Ware, a 6-foot-9 power forward, played his fifth and final college season at UT Arlington in 2024-25 under head coach KT Turner, a former assistant at Kentucky under John Calipari.

your knicks summer league roster 👀 pic.twitter.com/W3ZWMEd573
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) July 7, 2025

Ware came to Kentucky ahead of the infamous 2020-21 season, which resulted in a historically poor 9-16 final record, as a four-star talent and top 40 recruit from the 2020 class. The New Jersey native stuck around for three seasons (2020-23) under Calipari, appearing in 77 total games for the Wildcats, nine as a starter. Throughout his time at UK, Ware averaged 1.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per outing while shooting 57.4 percent from the field.

After his time in Lexington came to an end, Ware transferred to Villanova for the 2023-24 campaign. He again came off the bench, this time in all 33 games played, posting 1.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per contest on 48.3 percent shooting.

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But his breakout season would come after that at UT Arlington. Under Turner, Ware started all 26 games for the Mavericks, dropping per-game averages of 13.4 points and a conference-leading 9.6 rebounds in 32.5 minutes. Despite missing the first five games of the season due to injury, he made the Western Athletic Conference All-Defensive Team and the All-WAC Second Team. Ware tied for the league lead in double-doubles (11) and led the conference in field goal percentage (58.5)

Ware went unpicked in last month’s 2025 NBA Draft, but he’ll have an opportunity to showcase his talents starting this week in Las Vegas. Summer League action begins July 10 and runs through July 20. Ware will be among over a dozen former Wildcats competing.