As we reported earlier today, Kentucky coach John Calipari and assistant Kenny Payne are in Canada recruiting.
The Kentucky coaches were spotted in Drake’s seats at Game 1 of the Wizards-Raptors playoff series, won by the Wizards, 93-86.
Recruiting up north & decided to stop & watch 3 of UK’s finest play. What’s better than this? @JohnWall@pdpatt@c_hayes44#Raptors/Wizards
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) April 18, 2015
As first reported by Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal, Calipari and Payne are recruiting the Orangeville Prep duo of Thon Maker and Jamal Murray. Both are considering reclassifying to 2015 from 2016 and Kentucky is targeting both players.
Both players are also listed in the 2016 NBA Mock Draft by DraftExpress.com, with Murray at No. 18 and Maker at No. 25.
It’s possible that one or both could spend a year in college before heading to the draft. Alternatively, one or both could remain in Canada next season and head straight to the draft from Canada in 2016.
Kentucky lost seven players to the NBA Draft, including four bigs and three guards, and could use either or both of Maker and Murray next season.
The 6-foot-5 Murray has excelled in recent weeks, drawing increased interest from Kentucky and Duke after he scored 30 points to lead the World Team to the Nike Hoop Summit title over the U.S. last week and then dropped 29 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds in a loss in the BioSteel All-Canadian All-Star Game in Toronto on April 14.
UNLV-bound Jalen Poyser had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the win for the Red Team.
The 7-foot Maker had 8 points and 6 rebounds in the win. Indiana, Duke and Kansas are also in the mix for Maker, but it remains unclear if he will end up on a college campus because of amateurism issues.
Some 40 NBA personnel were on hand for the BioSteel game.
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