The Kentucky Wildcats basketball program has become the most prolific NBA franchise feeder in the nation and it looks that won’t change anytime soon.
Take a look at a recent press release from UK Athletics that has the exact percentage of players on NBA rosters that are from the Bluegrass:
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball team, the nation’s most prolific NBA player-producing program, once again leads the country with 21 players on an opening-day NBA roster.
Of the 446 players in the NBA to start the 2015-16 season, approximately 4.7 percent played college basketball at Kentucky. No other college basketball school comes within three players of UK as the NBA season opens Tuesday.
Kentucky’s NBA dominance is best represented in Phoenix and Sacramento, where a combined seven Wildcats now play at the highest level of the game. Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin and Brandon Knight are all part of the 2015-16 Phoenix Suns roster, while former UK stars Willie Cauley-Stein, DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo call Sacramento their home.
Two other franchises – the Charlotte Hornets (Aaron Harrison, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (Tayshaun Prince, Karl-Anthony Towns) – open the season with two Wildcats apiece.
One would think that number will continue to grow year after year.
