Kentucky Professional Athletes

Two Kentucky Wildcats alumni are dominating NBA preseason headlines for very different reasons — one basking in a partner's historic moment, the other navigating a contract standoff with the defending champions.

Bam Adebayo: Riding High Off and On the Court

Bam Adebayo entered preseason week with plenty to smile about. His girlfriend, Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson, claimed her fifth WNBA MVP award — the most in league history and the first time any player has reached that milestone. Adebayo, who reportedly knew the news in advance and kept it under wraps, was visibly emotional when asked about it by reporters.

"I'm at a loss for words," Adebayo told ClutchPoints outside the Heat facility. "She's the greatest to ever do it."

Off the court, the Heat captain has been all business during training camp. With Giannis Antetokounmpo now in Miami, the frontcourt partnership between the two is the most-watched storyline of the Heat's preseason. Giannis himself offered an encouraging update, indicating that the chemistry with Adebayo is developing naturally and that their shared defensive instincts make the pairing feel intuitive. It's early, but the foundation looks promising for a Heat team with legitimate title aspirations.

Karl-Anthony Towns: Contract Chaos in New York

Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns is at the center of an uncomfortable drama in New York. The Knicks — fresh off their 2026 NBA championship — have quietly shut down contract extension talks with Towns, and the situation has reportedly grown testy.

According to The Sporting News, Towns' public comments about his extension appeared to irk Knicks owner James Dolan, and the organization had already pulled back from active negotiations before the talks were officially tabled. Josh Hart, who is in a similar extension situation, took the opposite approach — staying tight-lipped and projecting calm. "Everything's going to work out," Hart told Bleacher Report.

Towns, for his part, has shown no visible drop-off on the floor. A Sports Illustrated breakdown of the Knicks' first few preseason games noted encouraging signs from the starting unit, with Towns among those flashing the form that helped New York win a title. But the contract cloud isn't going away quietly — Heavy Sports reported that the Knicks have even been pushed by outside voices to explore a trade involving Towns for Washington's Anthony Davis, another Kentucky alumnus now thriving with the Wizards.

Towns is eligible for an extension but will enter the regular season without one, adding a layer of uncertainty to a team that's supposed to be in pure championship-defense mode.

The Rest of the Wildcat World

Elsewhere in the Kentucky diaspora: Anthony Davis is making noise in Washington, where he's part of a new "Big 3" alongside Trae Young and top rookie AJ Dybantsa. Davis has been candid about what went wrong during his final stretch with the Lakers before the Luka Dončić trade, and early preseason returns suggest he's motivated to prove a point. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, is fueled by a different fire — his trainer revealed that SGA sent a blunt, frustrated text after watching the Knicks beat the Spurs in the NBA Finals, motivation that has carried into a statement preseason debut in Oklahoma City. And Tyrese Maxey has hit the ground running in Philadelphia, appearing alongside LeBron James in the Sixers' new-look starting five during their preseason opener against the Nets.

Kentucky alumni are scattered across the NBA landscape this offseason, but three Wildcats are commanding the most attention as training camps open — a champion navigating contract drama, a surprise free agent searching for a new home, and a veteran center chasing a personal milestone in South Beach.

KAT Wins It All, Then the Awkward Part Starts

Karl-Anthony Towns got his ring. The New York Knicks won the 2026 NBA title, and the Kentucky product was at the center of it — vindicated, celebrated, and loudly defended by family. His father, Karl Towns Sr., took shots at Jimmy Butler in the aftermath, and Towns' wife Jordyn Woods told The Athletic the championship "silences" every doubter. Fair enough.

But championships don't freeze salary caps. The Knicks are now wrestling with extension talks for Towns and Josh Hart simultaneously, and the financial math is uncomfortable. The second apron looms, the band-together question is real, and what should be a triumphant offseason has an undercurrent of uncertainty. Sports Illustrated offered a measured take — there's reason to believe it gets resolved — but the storyline won't go away until ink hits paper. For now, Towns is a champion without a secured long-term future in New York, which is not a sentence anyone expected to write in July.

Dillingham Cut Loose in a Roster Shuffle

Rob Dillingham's path to the Charlotte Hornets was already circuitous — he was traded from Minnesota to Charlotte — but the latest twist caught even close observers off guard. The Hornets traded Dorian Finney-Smith to Atlanta for Buddy Hield and Ryan Nembhard, then flipped Hield to Chicago for Dillingham, only to waive him shortly after. Just like that, a former first-round pick who averaged 9.6 points in 21 minutes per game last season is an unrestricted free agent.

Dillingham's production wasn't the problem — the Hornets' front office simply had other priorities. That should make him attractive on the open market. ClutchPoints has already outlined three legitimate landing spots for the Kentucky guard. At 22, with real NBA scoring chops already on the résumé, Dillingham looks less like a cautionary tale and more like a reclamation project waiting to happen for a team that needs backcourt depth.

Richards Eyes a Career-First Alongside Giannis

Nick Richards has always been a reliable big man — serviceable, physical, dependable on the glass. But "career-first" is the phrase he's using ahead of 2026-27 with the Miami Heat, and the context matters: Richards is now sharing the floor with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Klay Thompson on a Heat roster that's undergone a dramatic makeover.

Richards spoke exclusively to ClutchPoints about his goals for the season, framing his role as part of a larger chemistry-building project around Miami's new star acquisitions. He's flying under the radar — understandably, given that Giannis and Bam Adebayo are the headliners — but Richards has a legitimate opportunity to carve out the most prominent role of his NBA career. Adebayo is busy building his own chemistry with Giannis, and Richards figures to be a key piece of the Heat's frontcourt rotation. For a Kentucky center who's spent his career proving his worth on modest contracts, this is the biggest stage he's had.

Three Wildcats. Three very different situations. All worth watching when the 2026-27 season tips off.

Kentucky's NBA alumni are rarely far from the headlines, but this preseason week delivered a full docket of drama — contract standoffs, championship ambitions, and a young point guard already on his third team before age 23.

Towns and the Knicks: A Title, No Extension

Karl-Anthony Towns helped deliver the Knicks their first NBA championship, and yet New York can't seem to close a deal to keep him. Contract talks between Towns and the Knicks are reportedly at a standstill, with insiders describing the two sides as "not close." Towns is eligible for an extension worth up to $273–$276 million over four years, per ESPN's Bobby Marks, but reports suggest the Knicks have floated something short of that ceiling — and at least one insider has cast doubt on Towns accepting anything resembling a "low-ball offer."

Towns is entering the final guaranteed year of his current deal, which means New York's back-to-back aspirations carry a real organizational risk. If this impasse drags into the season, trade speculation will inevitably follow — and one proposal already circulating would flip Towns for a two-time All-Star center. For now, both sides appear dug in.

Fox Chases a Ring in San Antonio

De'Aaron Fox's move to the San Antonio Spurs was the splashiest trade of last season, and heading into the new year, he's made no secret of what he's after. Fox has spoken openly about wanting to "taste success" in the NBA Finals, pointing to glimpses of winning culture he experienced in Sacramento as motivation for what he's building with the Spurs.

Fox navigated a turbulent postseason run — San Antonio faced sharp criticism after a historic loss in Game 5 of the Finals at Madison Square Garden — but coach Mitch Johnson publicly backed his star point guard through the noise. "We stick together" was the message from the Spurs' sideline. Whether the roster around Fox is championship-caliber remains the defining question entering 2026–27.

Dillingham on the Move Again

Rob Dillingham, the No. 8 overall pick in 2024, has been traded to the Charlotte Hornets in a deal that sends veteran sharpshooter Buddy Hield to the Chicago Bulls, per ESPN's Shams Charania. Dillingham is now on his third NBA team — Bulls, then briefly a roster piece, now Charlotte — before his second professional season has even begun.

CBS Sports noted that Hield has also been traded twice this offseason, making this a swap of two players each seeking fresh starts. Charlotte is taking a flier on Dillingham's upside; the former Wildcat has the quickness and playmaking instincts to carve a role, but consistency has been the missing ingredient. The Hornets, rebuilding around LaMelo Ball, offer him a real opportunity to settle in.

Around the League

Tyrese Maxey is entering the season with serious title expectations after the 76ers landed LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in free agency. Maxey is also set to drop his signature New Balance Maxey V1 shoe on October 2nd — not a bad offseason for the former Wildcat. Meanwhile, two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is generating debate about whether he should redistribute his enormous offensive load to his Thunder teammates after a difficult playoff run. And Kevin Knox II signed with the Orlando Magic on September 23rd as the team finalized its training camp roster — a quiet but welcome roster spot for the former lottery pick.

The Two Headlines That Matter Most

Kentucky's NBA alumni class is never short on drama, but this offseason two former Wildcats are carrying the heaviest storylines in the league — and neither situation is particularly clean.

Karl-Anthony Towns helped the New York Knicks end a 53-year championship drought, yet his future in Manhattan is somehow in question. Towns has two seasons remaining on his four-year, $220.4 million contract, and a max extension is on the table — but according to ClutchPoints, owner James Dolan's reluctance to commit could be the deciding factor. For a franchise that just won it all with Towns as a cornerstone, the hesitation is jarring. Towns earned that extension on the floor. Whether Dolan agrees is a different matter entirely.

De'Aaron Fox's situation in San Antonio looks even more turbulent. The Spurs acquired Fox to pair with Victor Wembanyama, but the fit is already being publicly questioned — and the trade speculation has arrived faster than anyone might have anticipated. The Sporting News has reported two separate trade proposals in recent days: one that would bring a nine-time All-Star to replace Fox outright, another that would ship him for a two-time All-Star to better complement Wembanyama. None of it has materialized into a deal, but the volume of chatter this early in the offseason is rarely a good sign for a player's standing with his team.

The Supporting Cast

Beyond the two headliners, several other Kentucky alumni are generating noise.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander enters the 2026-27 season with a clear MVP runway, per Sports Illustrated, as long as the Thunder keep winning. Fellow Wildcat Cason Wallace, also in Oklahoma City, is projected by Bleacher Report — as cited by SI — to be the Thunder's breakout young star this season. Two Wildcats, one franchise, significant expectations.

Julius Randle is writing a new chapter in Brooklyn after being dealt from Minnesota to the Nets in an offseason salary dump. Randle has set publicly high expectations for his debut with the young Nets squad and has already taken on a leadership role — including, per ClutchPoints, a reportedly hilarious golf outing with first- and second-year teammates. Former Timberwolves coach Chris Finch also came to Randle's defense this week, pushing back on criticism of his playoff performances in Minnesota.

Bam Adebayo headlines a retooled Miami Heat roster built around a new Giannis Antetokounmpo partnership. Gilbert Arenas publicly lobbied for the Heat as the East's No. 1 seed, and the Giannis-Bam pairing is drawing enough attention that analysts are debating whether there's even a historical comp for it — with DeMarcus Cousins among the skeptics.

Jarred Vanderbilt remains in Los Angeles despite the Lakers openly shopping him, per Heavy Sports. He was put on blast publicly as trade rumors were confirmed — a messy situation for a player who missed significant time to injury last season and is still trying to reestablish his value.

Jamal Murray, meanwhile, faces a cloud over his future in Denver. Heavy Sports reports a bleak near-term outlook for the Nuggets guard as the franchise navigates roster uncertainty around Nikola Jokic's final contract year.

Big Blue's NBA footprint spans 30 rosters — but right now, it's Towns and Fox setting the tone.