A timeline of events between Shaedon Sharpe, his mentor, and Kentucky
Today was another confusing chapter in the story of Shaedon Sharpe and the University of Kentucky. This morning, Shams Charania, Kyle Tucker, and Jeff Borzello all reported that Sharpe was entering the 2022 NBA Draft and staying in, ending his short time as a Wildcat. Then, this afternoon, Sharpe released his own statement on social media saying that he is entering the draft but maintaining his eligibility as he gathers feedback from the league. Sharpe has until June 1 to withdraw his name if he wants to return to school. It feels like the writing is on the wall, but it also feels like we have another long month ahead of us — especially if the questions regarding Sharpe’s draft eligibility linger.
We will likely never know what really went on behind the scenes with Sharpe, his mentor Dwayne Washington, and John Calipari. What we do have are quotes from all three on the plan for Sharpe and Kentucky and how it evolved. As we try to make sense of the situation, here’s everything that’s been said about Shaedon Sharpe since he first popped up on our radar a few years ago.
Dec. 17, 2020: Receives an offer from Kentucky
In December 2020, Sharpe tweeted that he had received an offer from Kentucky. At the time, he was the 42nd-ranked player in the 2022 class.
April 23, 2021: Interest in Kentucky ramps up
At Midwest Mania in April 2021, Sharpe told KSR he and his grassroots coach and mentor Dwayne Washington were hearing from Kentucky the most, and the program’s history of putting players in the pros appealed to him.
“Probably Kentucky. I hear a lot from Kentucky. It really goes through my coach, Dwayne Washington. So I don’t really talk to them like that.”
“All the players that went through there, through their program and made it to the league. I feel like if I go there I could do the same thing.”
Sept. 7, 2021: Commits to Kentucky
Sharpe picked Kentucky over Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and the G-League Ignite. Ranked No. 1 by On3, Rivals, and ESPN, Sharpe joined Skyy Clark in Kentucky’s 2022 class.
Oct. 13, 2021: Considers enrolling early at Kentucky
In October, word started to spread that Sharpe was considering enrolling at Kentucky early, joining the team in January. Whether or not he was eligible for the 2021-22 season was unknown at the time.
“Shaedon Sharpe’s development is well ahead of schedule, as a result, he is considering enrolling earlier than expected at the University of Kentucky,” Travis Branham of 247 Sports wrote.
Oct. 25, 2021: Mentor – “He will not be going to the NBA Draft”
Even before Sharpe announced he was enrolling early, Washington was throwing cold water on the idea he would enter the 2022 NBA Draft. Here’s a quote from a conversation he had with the Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts:
“He will not be going to the NBA Draft,” Washington said Monday, enunciating every word of that sentence for effect. “That’s not even something to talk about. That’s like saying, ‘Are you going to go to Mars tomorrow?’”
Nov. 9, 2021: Announces early enrollment; “100% I will be at Kentucky to play next season.”
On November 9, 2021, Sharpe announced he was enrolling early at Kentucky with plans to redshirt and play in 2022-23.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Jason Jordan, Sharpe said he “100%” would play at Kentucky in the 2022-23 season.
When asked if he could potentially play this season, Sharpe said, “I’ll do whatever the team needs, but 100% I will be at Kentucky to play next season.”
“That’s a definite for me,” Sharpe said of playing next season in Lexington. “I love everything about Kentucky, so I’m looking forward to that.”
On that same day, Jonathan Givony said Sharpe was not eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft.
“He will not be eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft since he did not graduate high school prior to the NBA season starting,” Givony wrote on Twitter. “He’ll be eligible for NIL deals, though, and will likely cash in big time.
“The difference between Sharpe and Hamidou Diallo is Diallo graduated high school prior to the NBA season and thus had the option to declare for the NBA Draft after leaving his post-graduate institution (Putnam Science) and enrolling at Kentucky at semester break.”
In my research this morning, I discovered that tweet has been deleted.
In an interview with KSR, Washington said that the plan was for Sharpe to practice with the team in the second semester, but did not rule out him playing if Calipari requested it.
“Whatever the team wants, he’s going to do,” Washington said. “But he’s coming in to learn and develop, that’s what he’s coming in to do. … His mindset is just to go there and get ready. If Coach (Cal) says, ‘I need you to play,’ he’s going to play. He’s not going out there to play, he’s going out there to practice, but that can change at any moment.”
Nov. 10, 2021: Signs with Kentucky
A day later, Sharpe signed with Kentucky.
“Shaedon Sharpe has the ability to be one of those guys who can make a special impact,” John Calipari wrote on social media. “He is an elite scorer with a ton of upside. A 6-5 athlete with a lot of bounce. He has put in a lot of work over the last year to take his game to the next level. Welcome to La Familia!”
Nov. 18, 2021: Calipari first asked about playing Sharpe
With the news that Sharpe was enrolling early, Calipari was asked if he will play in the 2021-22 season in a press conference previewing the Ohio game.
“I don’t think so, but we’ll see when he gets here. He may not be in any kind of shape to really do it. But we’ll see.”
Dec. 21, 2021: Porsche commercial released
In late December, before he arrived on Kentucky’s campus, Sharpe released an ad for Blue Grass Motorsport on Instagram.
Dec. 31, 2021: Calipari – No talk of playing Sharpe in 2021-22 season
“We haven’t talked about (him playing), the family hasn’t talked about it,” Calipari said after Kentucky’s win over High Point. “My guess would be, he’s fine. Let’s get him in shape and go from there. There was never a plan to play him. I left that out there so everybody would panic, but there has never been a plan to play him. But, let’s get him here and work him out, see how things are, and see how our team is.”
Jan. 5, 2022: Arrives on campus
In early January, Calipari announced on his radio show that Sharpe had arrived on campus.
“Well, he worked out today on — you know, individual workouts. We’ll bring him along slowly. I want him in practice, I want to see him fly up and down the court and play that way, have that mentality. It takes time to teach it. I want to see, can he make shots when he’s playing that fast? All that stuff.”
“He’s not ready to be playing in games yet,” Calipari added. “He just got on campus a couple of days ago. Mom and dad were here with them and they went back. But he’s a great kid.”
A day later, Sharpe released this video through UK’s social media account greeting the Big Blue Nation.
“What’s up, BBN?” Sharpe said. “It’s Shaedon Sharpe here in Lexington. Super pumped to get it started. Let’s go ‘Cats.”
From here, the will-he-won’t-he game started for the 2021-22 season. A few days later, Calipari said Sharpe was still “a ways away from playing games.”
“He’s a ways away from playing games. It may be a year from now. They all know, I talked to him, I said, ‘We don’t have a plan for him to play this year.’ Maybe he does, but that is not the plan and never has been. I never said it because I wanted everybody to go crazy, all the other places where they may have. The reality of it is, we’ve never had a plan.”
Jan. 12, 2022: Calipari – “You get in early, you’ll be able to see Shaedon work out”
Sharpe participated in warm-ups prior to the Vanderbilt game in Nashville on Jan. 11, after which this clip of him dunking went viral:
A day later on his weekly radio show, Calipari encouraged fans to arrive early to the Tennessee game in Rupp on Jan. 15 to watch Sharpe warm up.
“Come early. Come early. Alright, here’s what I’m going to tell you. You get in early, you’ll be able to see Shaedon work out. So if you want to be the first to see Shaedon work out, he’ll be on there doing pregame and you’ll get to see him and say — You’ll be the first one to tell everybody, ‘I saw him.’ But you’ve got to get there early. He’ll be out there 90 minutes prior to tip-off.”
Jan. 14, 2022: Calipari – “If he’s ready, I say let’s go”
When asked if a scenario should arise that Kentucky only had seven scholarship players available due to COVID, Calipari didn’t completely rule out playing Sharpe.
“I don’t know. If he’s not ready to play, I would not put him out there. I would say, come on, this kid just came here. How do you make us, you know? You can’t do that to the kid — unless he’s ready. If he’s ready, I say let’s go. But he practiced yesterday. He’s going to practice today. We’re doing stuff with him.”
Calipari once again encouraged fans to come early to the Tennessee game to watch Sharpe warm up.
“Let me say this to our fans: get there early so we don’t have all the complaints. And we’ll make sure Shaedon is on the court working out and you can say, ‘I saw Shaedon.’ It’ll be like that book Where’s Waldo?. You can say, where’s Shaedon? I saw him. He was on the court, I was down there watching him warm up.”
Jan. 20, 2022: Givony reports Sharpe is eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft
On January 20, Jonathan Givony reported that Sharpe will be able to apply for the 2022 NBA Draft as an early-entry candidate after it was ruled he had sufficient credits to graduate prior to the start of the NBA season in October.
“Sharpe started the current school year at Dream City Christian in the Phoenix area, but he had sufficient credits to graduate from high school before the start of the NBA season in October,” Givony wrote.
Jan. 21, 2022: Calipari – “He plans on being here next year”
When asked if Sharpe being eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft changed anything about his plans to be at Kentucky next season, Calipari said no.
“No, it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t,” Calipari said in a press conference previewing Kentucky’s game vs. Auburn. “He plans on being here next year. He’s watching. Whether I play him or not this year, if he’s ready to be in games, I’ll put him in. He’s a great kid, and he’s doing well. And he’s going to make practices even better. He’s only been here two weeks. But, at the end of the day, you know I’m going to be for kids. That’s how I do this.”
Jan. 22, 2022: Mentor – “If he doesn’t play this year, he’s coming back next year”
In an interview with KSR, Washington said they knew Sharpe would be eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft well before he arrived on campus but it didn’t change the plan to play for Kentucky in the 2022-23 season.
“This is not new news to us. We knew about this before he came to school. This news is not news to anybody in the NBA. … People just found out, but NBA people already knew.”
“I didn’t even tell Calipari. Calipari was like, ‘Do you think he could do it?’ I said, ‘Honestly, it doesn’t matter, because he’s not going.’ He said, ‘OK, if you say so.’ Because everything I’ve said has happened.”
“It’s pretty idiotic. Everybody knew that this was an option, but we’re not taking it. He lost millions coming to school. He came to get better. … You come to get ready if you want to go to the NBA, which is one of the goals. You have to be ready. People don’t respect Calipari’s ability to develop enough, that’s why (Shaedon’s) there.
“He’s not there to sit on the bench and wave at fans. He’s coming back next year. If he doesn’t play this year, he’s coming back next year.”
Jan. 24, 2022: Calipari says Sharpe “stepped on the gas” practice, team wants him to play
Kentucky was without TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler during parts of the Auburn game, but Calipari said he didn’t consider playing Sharpe because “it wouldn’t have been fair to the kid.” Two days later on his radio show, Cal doubled down on that but said Sharpe “stepped on the gas” in recent practices and the team wanted him to play.
“Shaedon, you know, if I thought he was ready to go in (at Auburn), I would have put him in. But he’s not ready yet. He’s the greatest kid. The last couple of days he’s stepped on the gas a little bit and done some things. I think our team would like me to put him in.”
“He does something, they all kind of look at me like, ‘Come on now. That’s who he is, put him in.’ But you got to make sure you’re looking after him.”
Just a few hours prior, Jacob Toppin praised Sharpe’s improvement but said he had yet to participate in 5-on-5 scrimmaging with the team yet.
“He’s coming along,” Toppin said in a press conference previewing the Mississippi State game. “He’s been in practices. We haven’t gone full 5-on-5 with him yet but he’s getting there. He’s learning to play. He’s definitely coming along very well and we’ll go from there and see what happens.”
Feb. 2, 2022: Sharpe says the plan is still to play in 2022-23; Mentor – “What’s the rush?”
In one of his few media appearances, Sharpe spoke with UK Sports Network’s Curtis Burch on the “Behind Kentucky Basketball” podcast. When asked why he enrolled early, Sharpe said the plan was still to play in the 2022-23 season.
“I feel like it’ll prepare me for when I play next year,” he said of his current time on the team.
The same day, Kyle Tucker released an interview with Washington in which he said Sharpe is not in a rush to leave Kentucky — even if he’s a top-five or top-ten pick.
“He’s not in a rush to be somewhere he’s going to be for the next 15 years. It’s like you tell your kids: You’re only going to be a kid for a little while, and then you’ll be an adult forever. So what’s the rush, right? The whole, ‘He’s a top-five pick, top-10 pick so he’s gone’ thing? Come on. How many guys have we seen go too early, and they’re out of the league in three years? This is a long-term play that we’re doing, and you go to Kentucky instead of somebody or somewhere else because you want to go through the fire. He could’ve gone somewhere else to have his behind kissed. You come to Kentucky, and in Shaedon’s case you come early, knowing that it’s harder, knowing that you’re going to get criticized, because you want to be ready.”
Feb. 7, 2022: Calipari announces Sharpe will not play in 2021-22 season
Feb. 8, 2022: Calipari – “This kid comes back, he’s the No. 1 draft pick”
After Kentucky’s win over South Carolina, Calipari addressed the Sharpe situation, telling reporters about the conversation he had with Sharpe’s family/camp.
“I had talked to the family and Shaedon and we talked it over. And I said, ‘Has anything changed?’ I said, ‘Because we’ve got to make sure this doesn’t become a story because it doesn’t need to be.’ And the family said, ‘Look. He was going there to practice, to sit out, and get ready for the following year.’ And I said, ‘Well, has it changed?’ I said, ‘Why don’t you guys sleep on it and if it’s changed, let’s talk about it but if it hasn’t changed, I’m just going to say it hasn’t changed.’
“It is what it is. I know everybody will say, ‘Well, he isn’t coming,’ Yeah, well anybody can say anything. This kid comes back, he’s the No. 1 draft pick. In my mind, he’s the No. 1 draft pick. How can I say I know what the No. 1 draft pick looks like? BECAUSE I’VE HAD FOUR. That’s why I can say what it looks like. He can be the No. 1 draft pick.
“You know what? Would he be ready to go this year? Someone would take him and say we’re going to get you ready but playing in the NBA is a man’s league. Going through the gauntlet at Kentucky gets you ready to succeed. His family knows it, he knows it. He knows it. He said the attention to detail here, he’s never seen anything like it. Well, guess what? When you move up, it’s even more so. But he’s a great kid. I love coaching this kid. I do. Love coaching him.”
All that said, Calipari said if Sharpe got a top-five guarantee, a conversation about leaving could be had.
“We haven’t gone that far but I don’t see any reason not to but again, if someone in this draft would take him No. 1, 2, 3, say, well, we’ll take him No. 5. If someone guarantees me that they’re going to do it — and they won’t lie because I won’t let them back in our gym — so if someone is saying we’re going to do this, then you’ve got to sit down and talk. And I’m never — will he test the waters? He may not. He may say, ‘Coach, I am not ready.’ I can remember players where I said, are you think about, why wouldn’t you go and you could be drafted in this. ‘I’m not ready. I’m not ready.’ So, we don’t know yet.”
March 17, 2022: Calipari reflects on not playing Sharpe
After Kentucky’s loss to Saint Peter’s, Calipari was asked about the “what if” of Sharpe and the 2021-22 season.
“At one point, he and I sat down and talked about it. But you know, I think that was what was best for him is how we did it. Would he have been a good player this year? Yeah, he’d been pretty good. He’d have been pretty good. But he joined us midseason. Trying to get him up to all the stuff that we were doing was hard. Then it came a point late, maybe we could should have him in there. We just, you know, together, chose, let’s just wait.”
March 21, 2022: Calipari expects Sharpe to test NBA Draft waters
A few days later on his final radio show of the season, Calipari told listeners he sat down with Sharpe and his family and decided it would be in his best interest to test the NBA Draft waters
“Well, we sat down and talked to him. You know, I talked to him and I talked to his mom and dad. I think he’s got to explore, but he’s got to make a decision on, ‘Alright, do I want this right now? Am I ready for this right now? Is it where I thought it was, or where people are saying?’
“As you go through the process, this information comes back from the NBA. Not an agent or anybody else around you, it comes from the NBA. You have a better idea of what everything is. And until these kids all get that information, it’s hard.”
April 12, 2022: First report Sharpe will test NBA Draft waters
Travis Branham was the first to report that Shaedon Sharpe would enter the 2022 NBA Draft but maintain his college eligibility. Sharpe’s mentor quickly shot down that report by telling Kyle Tucker and Adam Zagoria that nothing had been decided and Sharpe is still on Kentucky’s campus.
April 21, 2022: Sharpe announces he is testing draft waters, other reports say he will stay in
This morning, Shams Charania and Jeff Borzello reported that Sharpe will enter the draft and stay in it, forgoing his eligibility at Kentucky. Hours later, Sharpe released his own statement saying he will only test the waters for now.
“Through discussions with Coach Cal, my parents, my mentor, and long consideration and prayer I’ve decided to enter my name in the NBA Draft while maintaining my college eligibility,” Sharpe wrote. “I’m not sure what my future holds beyond today, but I do know I have to take this next step to officially go through the process to test the waters and receive feedback. I pray you all will understand this is not a decision I’ve taken lightly.”
John Calipari also released a statement through UK.
“Shaedon and his family told me that he intends to put his name in the draft while retaining his eligibility, and they have my full support to test the process just as every player does. Shaedon has been a great teammate and has handled everything that comes with being a college student-athlete the way he should. Since he arrived on our campus, he’s been an integral part of our program and he’s already registered for summer and fall classes, but we support this decision to explore every option and make the best decision for his future based on all of the information he can receive.”
June 1 (11:59 PM): Deadline to withdraw from the NBA Draft
Otherwise known as the moment we’ll know for certain.
BONUS: Source timeline!
If you’d like to go even further down the rabbit hole, here’s a Sharpe timeline from one of Matt’s sources:
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