BOZICH | 3 most intriguing former Kentucky players in the NBA playoffs | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There were 17 former University of Kentucky men's basketball players competing when the NBA playoffs began last week.

Two — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Olivier Sarr — left the conversation when the Oklahoma City Thunder were eliminated by Minnesota.

Many of the remaining names have been a force in the league for years. Anthony Davis won an NBA title with the Lakers to go with the one he delivered with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at UK 11 seasons ago.

Julius Randle of the Knicks has averaged nearly 19 points and nine rebounds for nine seasons. The list is short of guys who have done that. Devin Booker (Suns) and Bam Adebayo (Heat) played for the U.S team that won Olympic gold two years ago. They're all-stars.

Karl Anthony-Towns has been a solid piece for Minnesota since the Timberwolves drafted him first in 2015.

But this season is different. As good as all those guys are, they might be exceeded by a newcomer to the group who is winning at a franchise that is not supposed to win.

There's another guy who traveled the path from Kentucky to four teams while becoming a critical contributor to the Los Angeles Lakers.

And there's one more player who was not a one-and-done for John Calipari. In two seasons with the Wildcats, this player started 32 fewer games than Ashton Hagans. Now, he is an indispensable member of the New York Knicks.

Here are my picks for the three most intriguing UK players in the NBA playoffs:

1. De'Aaron Fox: For all the talk about the 38-1 UK team that should have won the NCAA title, you have to wonder if the 2017 team would have lugged home a trophy if Luke Maye had not cashed that buzzer-beater that gave North Carolina its 75-73 regional final win in Memphis.

Fox, Adebayo and Malik Monk gave Calipari three guys who could play with anybody as the Wildcats won 32 of 38 games. Adebayo excelled in the league from day one.

Monk struggled in Charlotte but has found his place in Sacramento.

But I'd take Fox over any of the 15 Kentucky players still competing. In his only season at UK, Fox made only 24.6% of his three-point field goal attempts, which might explain why he was taken fifth in the 2017 NBA Draft, behind Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Jayson Tatum and Josh Jackson.

In a redraft today, only Tatum would be called ahead of Fox.

Fox has upgraded his shooting nearly every season with the Kings, making 58.4% of his two-point attempts and 32.4% of his threes while carrying Sacramento into the playoffs for the first time in 17 seasons. Fox made a shot from distance with 2:17 to play that pushed the Kings to a 2-0 series lead over the Golden State on Monday night.

He can run a team. He defends. He protects the ball. And he's winning for a franchise that rarely win. Instead of demanding a trade, Fox stayed and made a difference.

2. Jarred Vanderbilt: If three NBA teams badly misevaluated Fox in the 2017 draft, scouts had no chance to get the proper read on Vanderbilt, whose sole spotty season with the Wildcats was 2017-18.

A string of injuries limited Vanderbilt to 14 games. He did not start on a team where Kevin Knox and P.J. Washington got most of the frontcourt love. He was taken with the 41st pick in the 2018 draft (behind Rodions Kurucs) and has bounced from Denver to Minnesota to Utah before finally finding a perfect spot with the Lakers, who traded for him on Feb. 9.

Vanderbilt is never going to put up big scoring numbers but he's a ferocious rebounder (averaging 6.7 while playing only half the game) and defender. He's a low-ego guy who fits perfectly with Davis, LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell.

3. Immanuel Quickley: This is the guy who started 32 fewer games than Hagans in the 2019 and 2020 seasons at UK. He was labeled a catch-and-shoot, three-point specialist. In his Kentucky career, Quickley attempted 248 two-point field goals and 232 threes.

Although Quickley lasted until the 25th pick of the first round of the 2020 draft, basketball-reference.com credits him with more career wins shares than all but three players taken in that draft.

After starting 27 games in two seasons for Calipari, Quickley learned how to contribute quickly off the bench. He's a microwave guy, averaging nearly 15 points for the Knicks while shooting 37% from distance. The Knicks are a sleeper pick to win the Eastern Conference, opening the playoffs with a road win over Cleveland.