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Kentucky NBA Draft props: Where will Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham land in 2024 NBA Draft?
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Kentucky has multiple prospects who are expected to be picked early on in the 2024 NBA Draft this week.
Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are 2 of the main headliners in this draft class, particularly from the college ranks. Sheppard in particular could be the first college player selected in this year’s draft.
Kentucky has routinely produced lottery picks in recent years, but it’s been awhile since the Wildcats have put multiple top-14 selections in the same draft. The last such draft was in 2019, when PJ Washington and Tyler Herro were selected with the 12th and 13th picks, respectively.
UK hasn’t had multiple top-10 picks in the same draft since 2015 when Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein went in the top 6. Sheppard and Dillingham have a chance to snap that streak on Wednesday night.
Justin Edwards and Antonio Reeves are also hoping to hear their names called at some point during the draft, although they may have to wait until the 2nd round to do so. Kentucky has not had 4 players selected in the same draft since 2018.
Let’s take a look at some prop bets featuring Sheppard and Dillingham ahead of the 1st round of the draft on Wednesday:
Reed Sheppard draft position: Under 3.5 (-155) at bet365
Throughout the pre-draft process, Sheppard has been linked to the Houston Rockets at No. 3 overall. Yes, the Rockets have been rumored to be interested in moving this pick in search of a veteran to help them reach the postseason in 2024-25. But that’s been a popular refrain for teams picking in the top-5 in recent years, and deals very rarely materialize.
Across the board, Sheppard is viewed as the clear choice for Houston at No. 3. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and the Athletic’s Sam Vecenie both released new mock drafts on Monday, and each had Sheppard going to Houston — as most experts have since lottery night.
As for Sheppard’s fit in Houston, it makes a lot of sense. He’d immediately become the best shooter on a team that could definitely use floor-spacing and connective passing, as several of the Rockets’ core players struggle in one of those areas. He’d also be an interesting longterm backcourt partner for Amen Thompson, who is one of the more athletic players in the league but has not been able to shoot the ball at a high level to this point in his career.
Also over at bet365, you can get +100 odds on the top 3 to be this exact order: Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr and Sheppard. At this point, all publicly-available intel suggests that Sarr’s camp has steered him away from Atlanta and toward Washington at No. 1 overall. Barring a trade or a draft-day stunner, the order of the top-3 seems to be fairly set-in-stone.
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First to be drafted: Reed Sheppard or Donovan Clingan | Sheppard (-150 at DraftKings)
Clingan has received some buzz to go No. 1 overall, but that has been fading in recent days with Risacher expected to be Atlanta’s pick barring a trade. If he doesn’t go No. 1, Sarr should be viewed as a lock to be the pick for Washington at No. 3. That would leave the Rockets — or a trade partner — to decide between Sheppard, Clingan or another prospect at No. 3 overall.
As mentioned above, trades in the top-3 rarely happen. If Houston does keep the pick, Sheppard is a much easier fit for Houston’s core than Clingan would be. Center Alperen Sengun is arguably the team’s best player, and the lack of shooting prowess from that duo would lead to a complicated fit. Drafting Clingan in the top-3 would also seemingly relegate Sengun to guarding power forwards in most lineups, which would lead to issues on the defensive side of the ball. It’s very unlikely that Clingan goes in the top-3 barring a trade, which makes Sheppard the easy choice here.
If somehow neither player was selected in the top-3, Sheppard would also be much more likely to be picked by the San Antonio Spurs at No. 4 or the Detroit Pistons at No. 5. Both the Spurs and Pistons have already invested significant draft capital and developmental resources to the center position during their respective rebuilds.
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GET THE APPRob Dillingham draft position: Under 11.5 (-110) at DraftKings
Dillingham is one of the more polarizing prospects in this class. He excelled off the bench for Kentucky as a scorer this season, but his smaller-than-ideal frame could lead to issues on both ends of the floor. Small guards are becoming more and more rare in the NBA, but there are a few notable exceptions (like Trae Young and Darius Garland) for players who are uber-efficient offensive players.
Will Dillingham become that level of player? That’s the question teams will have to answer before deciding to pick him on Wednesday night. Given the context of this draft, I think there’s a good chance that the answer is ‘yes’ for a team in the top-11.
Dillingham seems to be in play as early as No. 8 overall to the Spurs. San Antonio could very well take 2 guards in this class (it has been linked to UConn’s Steph Castle at No. 4 overall). A Dillingham-Castle back court would seemingly fit well together playing in front of Victor Wembanyama. Dillingham would make some sense to Utah at No. 10, as the Jazz are looking for a longterm back court partner for Keyonte George. There’s also several teams in the teens who could move up into the back half of the top-10 to secure Dillingham if they believe he’s a franchise point guard.
Another reason I like the ‘under’ here is because of the value you’re getting compared to other books. At bet365, Dillingham’s draft position over/under is 9.5.
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Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
