John Calipari has an incredible streak going in the NBA Draft. The Kentucky head coach is now a perfect 22-for-22 in getting one-and-done players drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft.
The streak was in danger last night, but Skal Labissiere became the 22nd consecutive Calipari one-and-done player to make the cut when he was taken with pick No. 28.
Check out Gary Parrish’s thoughts on the amazing run for Calipari:
Labissiere makes it 22-for-22.
More specifically, it’s 22-for-22 overall, 18-for-18 at Kentucky. And what I mean by this is that all 22 recruits who have signed with Calipari, spent one year in his program and then entered the NBA Draft after just that one year have been selected in the first round. There is literally no exception. It’s 22-for-22. And counting.
The string started in 2002, after Calipari had already bounced from UMass to the New Jersey Nets and back to college basketball at Memphis. He signed a five-star prospect named Dajuan Wagner, used him to win the NIT, then watched Wagner become the sixth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Four years later, Shawne Williams was a one-and-done Tiger who went 17th in the 2006 NBA Draft. Two years after that, Derrick Rose played one year under Calipari, then went first in the 2008 NBA Draft. A year later, Tyreke Evans used a strong freshman season to become the fourth pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Then Calipari moved to Kentucky.
And that’s when things really started popping.
In Calipari’s seven years at Kentucky, he’s now had 18 — or an average of 2.57 per year — freshmen enter the NBA Draft, and all 18 have been first-round picks. There was John Wall (No. 1), DeMarcus Cousins (No. 5), Eric Bledsoe (No. 18) and Daniel Orton (No. 29) in 2010. There was Enes Kanter (No. 3) and Brandon Knight (No. 8) in 2011. There was Anthony Davis (No. 1), Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (No. 2) and Marquis Teague (No. 29) in 2012. There was Nerlens Noel (No. 6) and Archie Goodwin (No. 29) in 2013. There was Julius Randle (No. 7) and James Young (No. 17) in 2014. There was Karl-Anthony Towns (No. 1), Trey Lyles (No. 12) and Devin Booker (No. 13) in 2015. And now, in 2016, there’s Jamal Murray (No. 7) and Skal Labissiere (No. 28).
That’s 18-for-18 at Kentucky.
That’s 22-for-22 in Calipari’s entire coaching career.
