Kadary Richmond and Jaylen Wells drawing interest from Kentucky

Posted by author April 26, 2024 Basketball

We have a new transfer name to monitor for the Kentucky Wildcats.

On Thursday, Washington State wing Jaylen Wells entered the transfer portal. He previously entered the NBA Draft.

Now, Kentucky has reportedly made contact with Wells, according to Tristan Pharis. Wells is currently focused on the NBA, as several mock drafts have him going in the second round if he stays in this year’s draft.

I can confirm Kentucky and Washington State transfer Jaylen Wells have been in contact.

Wells entered the portal yesterday with a “do not contact’ tag, meaning he had to reach out first.

Per source: “It’s very preliminary. We are focused on the NBA Draft first and foremost.”

— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) April 26, 2024

The 6-foot-8 native of California began his college career at Division II Sonoma State, where he spent two seasons and was an All-American before landing at Washington State last year.

This past season, Wells averaged 12.6 points (43.6% shooting and 41.7% on 3s), 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 29.2 minutes per game.

In the Cougars’ two NCAA Tournament games — a win over Drake and a loss to Iowa State — Wells averaged 18.5 points while hitting 14/28 shots (5/15 from deep) to go with 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per contest.

Arguably the best performance of his season came in a 77-74 win at No. 4 Arizona, where he racked up 27 points on 9/16 shooting (6/10 on 3s), three boards, two dimes, and a steal.

Another player Kentucky has reached out to is Seton Hall point guard Kadary Richmond.

According to Adam Zagoria, Richmond has heard from Kentucky, Duke, St. John’s, Villanova, Illinois, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Florida State, UCF, and Arkansas since entering the portal Thursday.

Zagoria added that Richmond is now expected to transfer to another school instead of pursuing his NBA options, which is good news for Kentucky

Originally a class of 2020 signee of Syracuse, Richmond spent one season with the Orange before transferring and spending the last three years at Seton Hall. Kentucky actually reached out to Richmond when he went portating in 2021.

This past season, the 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard averaged 15.7 points on 44.1% shooting (27% from deep), 7.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game while leading the Pirates to an NIT Championship.

In Seton Hall’s four NIT games, Richmond averaged 13.8 points on 45.8% shooting (44.4% from deep), 9.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 2.6 steals, and 1.0 blocks per outing.