After a long wait, Kentucky men’s basketball finally lands a new player for next season

Finally, the Kentucky men’s basketball program has made a roster addition this offseason.

The haul? A player formerly signed to play at a rival school.

On Monday morning, Jordan Burks — a class of 2023 recruit who played last season at Hillcrest Prep, an Arizona school in the Overtime Elite pro basketball league — announced he would be coming to Lexington to play for John Calipari and the Wildcats.

Burks made the announcement on the “Paper Route” show as part of the I Am Athlete podcast, where Burks was interviewed by NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

Burks selected a Kentucky hat and unzipped his jacket to reveal a Kentucky T-shirt when making his announcement.

“I feel confident in my decision because Coach Calipari is genuine,” Burks said on the show Monday morning. “He’s a family guy. He’s honest, he doesn’t lie. He tells every player the same thing. It’s not going to be easy, because if it was easy then everybody could do it. That’s why (Kentucky is) the best fit for me, because (Calipari) wasn’t promising me any minutes, nothing. Just, ‘You’ve got to come work. You’ve got to work for what’s yours.’”

Burks added that Calipari is the main reason why he wants to play at UK.

In a Monday morning news release, the Kentucky head coach commented on Burks and how he projects for next season’s team.

“Jordan has good size and has the ability to be a prolific scorer,” Calipari said in the release. “His length allows him to play multiple positions, be dynamic in the open court, rebound at both ends and he can put it on the floor and score in a variety of ways … I really love his toughness and his upside is tremendous.”

This isn’t the first time Burks has pledged to play basketball in the Southeastern Conference.

The 19-year-old Burks — who is listed at 6-foot-9 and 190 pounds and is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a three-star prospect and as the No. 172 recruit in the country — committed last August to play college basketball at Ole Miss and signed his national letter of intent (NLI) with the school last November.

Following a change of head coach at Ole Miss from Kermit Davis to Chris Beard, Burks asked for a release from his NLI this spring.

Burks made a recruiting visit to Lexington last week and swiftly moved to announce that he would become a Wildcat.

Burks took a winding path in his prep basketball career to ultimately end up in Lexington.

He began at Heritage Christian Academy in Decatur, Alabama, then played at Central Pointe Christian Academy (Florida) and Southern California Academy (California) before his move to Hillcrest and experience in the OTE league.

Playing against both college-eligible and pro-bound players in OTE, Burks more than held his own: He led OTE in scoring during the regular season with more than 27 points per game and added 7.5 rebounds and nearly three assists per regular-season contest.

Burks also led OTE in scoring during the playoffs, averaging 23 points.

Across the full 40-game schedule played by Hillcrest Prep last season, Burks averaged 28.2 points per game and made 41% of his three-point shots.

Burks’ addition to the Kentucky roster as a late commitment in the 2023 recruiting class means UK currently projects to have six freshman scholarship players on the team.

The Cats already boast the best 2023 recruiting class in the country, although a lack of college basketball experience remains a glaring shortcoming with Calipari’s roster construction for the 2023-24 season.

Monday’s appearance was the second time in a week that Burks appeared on I Am Athlete.

He first appeared on the “Paper Route” show last Wednesday, and during that appearance he discussed his basketball journey, as well as the recruiting process after he was released from his NLI with Ole Miss.

Burks compared his playing style to that of NBA stars Brandon Ingram and Jayson Tatum, and Burks specifically referenced the size and versatility of those two players as elements of their game that he tries to emulate.

Burks also mentioned that mid-range shooting is a significant strength of his game.

“It was a great experience. I got to see all my measurements, my pros and cons,” Burks added about his experience playing in the Overtime Elite league. “To go against lottery picks (like) the Thompson twins. … It also humbled me, because I’ve got to work on other things: I’ve got to rebound, play better defense, be a better teammate. (There were) highs and lows in the process, and it prepared me for the next journey.”

When speaking about that next stage of his basketball journey, Burks said he was ready to go to Ole Miss and play for Kermit Davis, before Davis was fired as head coach in February.

“It was hard transitioning from that, but you can (only) control what you can control,” Burks said. “You’ve just got to move on. It was hard, though. I definitely wanted to play for (Davis).”

Just a few minutes later, though, Burks revealed Kentucky has long been his dream college basketball destination.

“I wanted to play for Calipari,” Burks said, noting that Kentucky men’s basketball games were always featured on TV when he was growing up. “I wanted to (go) to a blue blood.”

Burks added that Georgia Tech and Oregon State were two other schools that connected with him during his second recruiting process.

Ultimately, though, Burks will get the chance to go to his dream school.

Current Kentucky men’s basketball roster outlook

Here’s a current breakdown of all the scholarship players joining and leaving the Wildcats, along with the question marks that still exist for next season’s team.

Incoming players: Aaron Bradshaw (freshman center), Jordan Burks (freshman small forward), Robert Dillingham (freshman guard), Justin Edwards (freshman small forward), Reed Sheppard (freshman guard), DJ Wagner (freshman guard).

Returning players: Brennan Canada (fifth-year guard), Ugonna Onyenso (sophomore forward), Adou Thiero (sophomore guard).

Outgoing players: Daimion Collins (forward, transferred to LSU), CJ Fredrick (guard, transferred to Cincinnati), Chris Livingston (forward, NBA Draft), Oscar Tshiebwe (forward, NBA Draft), Jacob Toppin (forward, NBA Draft), Cason Wallace (guard, NBA Draft), Lance Ware (forward, transferred to Villanova), Sahvir Wheeler (guard, transferred to Washington).

Yet-to-be announced: Antonio Reeves (guard).

Reeves pulled his name out of the NBA Draft and will return to college basketball for next season, but he hasn’t confirmed whether or not he would return to Kentucky for his final season of NCAA eligibility.

Jordan Burks is now a Kentucky Wildcat. What can he bring to an already freshman-heavy team?