{"id":501512,"date":"2025-12-28T17:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T17:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/501512\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T17:23:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T17:23:10","slug":"kentucky-among-reported-schools-in-the-mix-for-two-way-player-trentyn-flowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/501512\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Among Reported Schools in the Mix for Two-Way Player Trentyn Flowers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A basketball player who has stepped on an NBA floor for eight games is being recruited by college teams. Kentucky is reportedly one of the many who are interested. To quote a wise man from Rock Ridge<\/a>, What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is a goin\u2019 on here? <\/p>\n

Trentyn Flowers<\/a> should be a familiar name for many, particularly if you live in the city of Louisville. He was the highest-ranked player Kenny Payne<\/a> recruited to Louisville. Flowers reclassified to join the Cardinals early. He spent the summer in Louisville with the team, then abruptly announced right before the beginning of the fall semester that he would not suit up for UofL during Payne\u2019s second season. Instead, he chose to take a professional route and play in Australia\u2019s NBL. <\/p>\n

It was an objectively hilarious game of basketball Hokey Pokey. Somehow, some way, Flowers has upped the ante. <\/p>\n

On3\u2019s Joe Tipton<\/a> reports that the 6-foot-8 swingman has been drawing interest from college basketball programs, including Kentucky<\/a>,\u00a0Michigan<\/a>,\u00a0BYU<\/a>,\u00a0Kansas<\/a>,\u00a0Washington<\/a>,\u00a0Texas Tech<\/a>,\u00a0Florida<\/a>,\u00a0USC<\/a>,\u00a0LSU<\/a>,\u00a0SMU<\/a>,\u00a0Indiana<\/a>, and\u00a0Clemson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

UPDATE: Matt Norlander<\/a> spoke with representatives at some of the schools mentioned by Tipton. At least five have refuted any interest in acquiring Flowers. \u201cNot even sure how we got on that list. No one on our staff has had any contact with anyone associated with him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Flowers isn\u2019t just a guy who\u2019s played overseas or in the G League. This guy has scored 15 points in the National Basketball Association over the last two years. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re probably asking the question, How is this possible? Aren\u2019t there rules? The answer to the second question is no. There are no more rules. <\/p>\n

Louisville was actually one of the schools that got the ball rolling on this movement. London Johnson<\/a> spent three years in the G League, but signed with the Cards and was granted two years of eligibility. Tom Izzo described it<\/a> as \u201cridiculous\u201d and \u201cembarrassing,\u201d but it was only the beginning. <\/p>\n

James Nnaji<\/a> was the No. 31 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, although the FC Barcelona center never signed a contract. He spent time in the Summer League with the Knicks. The 7-foot center will suit up for Baylor during the spring semester of this basketball season. <\/p>\n

What makes Flowers different than the previous players is that he actually played in the NBA. Finding some loophole to get immediate eligibility may be more challenging for Flowers, but it\u2019s not going to stop college programs from testing the NCAA\u2019s limits. After all, as Tipton noted, they\u2019ve shown \u201cgreater flexibility\u201d with all of these decisions. <\/p>\n

If Flowers is granted eligibility, one may argue that it\u2019s opening up a can of worms. The nightcrawlers are already slinking and sliding over the table. The Nnaji decision essentially confirmed that the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline is moot. Rules are only rules if they have consequences, and right now, the toothpaste is all the way out of the tube. <\/p>\n

Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A basketball player who has stepped on an NBA floor for eight games is being recruited by college…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,70640],"class_list":{"0":"post-501512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-trentyn-flowers-23-combine-academy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115798357162797018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}