Biggest Blockbuster: Trio of Wildcats expected to sign new deals totaling $550 million…
Three former Kentucky players are on the verge of signing contract extensions
According to reports, Bam Adebayo is expected to sign a 3-year, $166 million maximum contract extension with the Miami Heat; Jamal Murray is expected to sign a 4-year, $209 maximum extension with the Denver Nuggets; and Immanuel Quickley is expected to sign a 5-year, $175 million extension with the Toronto Raptors.
A 3-time NBA All-Star and 5-time All-NBA Defensive selection, Adebayo won a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and will represent the United States once again at the 2024 Olympics in Paris this summer.
During his lone season at Kentucky in 2016-17, Adebayo started all 38 games with eight double-doubles and was named Second Team All-SEC and to the SEC All-Freshman Team and the SEC All-Tournament Team after averaging 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game for the Wildcats, who went 32-6 and reached the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament before being taken with the 14th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Coming out of High Point Christian Academy in Pinetown, N.C., Adebayo was ranked No. 9 overall in the class of 2016 according to the industry average 247Sports Composite and chose Kentucky over NC State and Auburn.
Murray won an ESPY for Comeback Player of the Year after returning from a torn ACL to help lead the Nuggets to its first-ever NBA championship in 2023.
Murray, who was named a Second Team All-American by USA Today, a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press, a First Team All-SEC selection and to the SEC All-Tournament Team, made 113 three-pointers, second only to Jodie Meeks single-season record of 117 set in 2008-09, while shooting 40.8 percent from beyond the arc.
A former 5-star recruit hailing from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Murray was ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect and No. 1 shooting guard in the 2015 class according to the 247Sports Composite. He chose Kentucky over Oregon in June of 2015 before becoming the No. 7 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Nuggets.
Quickley, who was traded to the Raptors from the New York Knicks in December, finished second in the NBA Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2023.
After averaging just 5.2 points per game as a freshman at Kentucky in 2018-19, Quickley led the Wildcats in scoring (16.1 ppg), made 3-pointers (62), 3-point percentage (.428), free throws made (144), attempted (156) and free three percentage (.923) on his way to becoming Kentucky head coach John Calipari’s fifth SEC Player of the Year in 2020.
Quickley started just five of the season’s first 16 games but it was his insertion into the starting lineup that changed Kentucky’s season. After switching to a three-guard lineup in a win at Arkansas on Jan. 18, the Wildcats won 13 of its final 15 games.
Coming out of The John Carroll School in Bel Air, Md., Quickley was a McDonald’s All-American and ranked No. 19 overall in the 2018 class by the 247Sports Composite and chose Kentucky over Kansas and Miami among others.
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