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Friday, January 2, 2026

Kentucky Guard with Zero Minutes Could Become $5M Lottery Pick

  • Shaedon Sharpe is projected as high as a top-5 pick, which would pay at least $5M his rookie season.
  • The highly recruited guard logged zero minutes his freshman year.
The Courier-Journal

Shaedon Sharpe missed his freshman year at Kentucky and has played zero minutes in college — but he’s still expected to be a lottery pick after declaring for the 2022 NBA Draft on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Sharpe announced his plans to enter the draft while maintaining his college eligibility — which runs out on June 1.

The 6-6 guard is projected as the No. 6 pick by ESPN, and his draft stock increased due to his sheer potential. 

He made ESPN’s top-100 recruits after dominating play last summer on the Nike EYBL circuit, where he averaged 22.6 points and 5.8 rebounds on 36.1% three-point shooting. 

By the 2021-22 NBA rookie scale, he would make roughly $5.4 million in his first year if picked sixth — and $17.1 million through the first three years of his deal. The top pick stands to make $9.1 million in the first year and $28.3M through three years.

The 18-year-old from Ontario is already earning: Sharpe struck an NIL deal with sneaker community SoleSavy in late January.

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