{"id":702277,"date":"2026-04-07T00:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702277\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T00:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T00:09:20","slug":"malachi-moreno-enters-nba-draft-will-return-to-kentucky-basketball-if-he-withdraws-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702277\/","title":{"rendered":"Malachi Moreno enters NBA Draft, will return to Kentucky Basketball if he withdraws"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Malachi Moreno is taking the next step in evaluating his future, announcing he will test the NBA Draft waters while maintaining the option to return to <a href=\"https:\/\/ukathletics.com\/sports\/mbball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Kentucky Basketball<\/a>. Jon Chepkevich of Draft Express broke the news Monday night, adding that if Moreno withdraws from the draft, it will be to play for Kentucky, so it appears the transfer portal is no longer an option for the Bluegrass product.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cIf I\u2019m back in college next season, it\u2019ll be right here with Big Blue Nation,\u201d he wrote on IG.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The move allows Moreno to receive feedback from NBA scouts while preserving his college eligibility, a path many players take to better understand what they must improve before making the leap to the professional level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Moreno is coming off an impressive freshman campaign in which he exceeded expectations. Originally viewed as a developmental piece, he was thrown into a starting role early in the season by Mark Pope due to injuries and inconsistency in the frontcourt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">He went on to average 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 58.2% from the field. He also contributed 1.5 blocks per game and started 30 of 36 contests, becoming a key presence in Kentucky\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Testing the draft waters will give Moreno valuable insight into areas of improvement, particularly his strength, physicality, and overall athleticism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">If he does return to Kentucky, the experience could help him take a major leap in his sophomore season. If not, it shows confidence in his long-term NBA potential. Either way, this decision is a critical step in Moreno\u2019s development as he works toward reaching the next level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malachi Moreno is taking the next step in evaluating his future, announcing he will test the NBA Draft&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,38124,244,245,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-702277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-kentucky-wildcats-basketball-news","10":"tag-kentucky-wildcats-basketball","11":"tag-kentucky-wildcats-mens-basketball-recruiting","12":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116360522349019264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702277","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=702277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}