After a disappointing season laden with injuries and a quiet offseason in which it failed to land its top recruits, Kentucky is scrambling.
Mark Pope lost 11 of 16 players on his roster after Kentucky was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament. To make matters worse, four of the Wildcats’ top targets rejected them. Tyran Stokes, Rob Wright III, Donnie Freeman and De’Shayne Montgomery all chose not to commit to Kentucky after days of speculation.
While there have been some additions to the squad, one name yet to make a decision about Kentucky is Milan Momcilovic, who has declared for the draft.
NCAA insider Isaac Trotter reported that Momcilovic could make up to $6 million per season by returning to college basketball. He has two years of eligibility remaining and could make up to $12 million through NIL.
“That shows you where his brain is at,” Trotter said about Momcilovic’s inclination towards remaining in the draft. “But the type of money that’s at stake here, it’s just hard to leave $6 million on the table. And I think he would probably get in that ballpark.”
“Because St. John’s they have all of this money from the Massamba Diop sweepstakes that they missed out on. They could funnel his [Milan] direction. Louisville, I think they just make money out of trees. I don’t know how. A regular college basketball budget doesn’t apply to Louisville at this rate,” he added.
“And then we obviously know Kentucky had a huge offer on the table for Tyran Stokes. You could see a big amount of that funnel toward Momcilovic. So he will get paid big time regardless in college basketball next season if he chooses that route,” Trotter concluded.
Kentucky’s current and possible additions
Despite reportedly having the largest NIL budget of $21-$23 million, Kentucky does not have a very strong roster. However, there’s still some hope. Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Franck Kepnang, Justin McBride, Jerone Morton, and Ousmane N’Diaye are some of the additions.
Reports suggest Malachi Moreno is inclined to return to Kentucky and withdraw from the NBA draft. This would be a huge addition as Moreno was a key player for Pope.
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