New NBA Mock Draft has 4 Wildcats in 1st round; Rob Dillingham among Top 10

Another day, another new NBA mock draft. This one comes from SB Nation‘s Ricky O’Donnell, who has four Kentucky players included in his first-round projections, including one future top-10 pick.

Freshman guard Rob Dillingham is the highest-ranked of the four Wildcats, with O’Donnell tabbing Dillingham to the Charlotte Hornets with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Three more Kentucky freshmen cracked the first round: Reed Sheppard at No. 14 to the Miami Heat, Justin Edwards at No. 21 to the Indiana Pacers, and DJ Wagner at No. 23 to the New Orleans Pelicans.

After breaking down some of the top prospects in the upcoming draft, O’Donnell had additional thoughts on Dillingham and Sheppard, describing them as “other draft prospects catching our eye so far”. He compares Dillingham to Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star point guard Darius Garland while listing Sheppard as Kentucky’s best overall player at this point in the season.

Dillingham and Sheppard have both seen significant rises in their draft stock through Kentucky’s first nine games of the season. Last week, ESPN labeled Dillingham as the No. 16 overall pick and Sheppard as the No. 22 overall pick. Also last week, The Athletic tabbed Sheppard as the sixth-best prospect on their 2024 NBA Draft Big Board with Dillingham checking in as the 15th-best.

So far this season, Dillingham and Sheppard have easily been the two biggest surprises for Kentucky. The backcourt duo comes off the bench but consistently makes noticeable impacts. Dillingham is averaging 14.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.6 steals in 23.1 minutes per outing on shooting splits of 47.5/51.4/73.7. Sheppard has been just as impressive if not more so, averaging 13.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.0 steals in 26.7 minutes per game on insane shooting splits of 61.2/59.0/92.3.