{"id":702927,"date":"2026-04-07T08:35:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:35:17","slug":"kentucky-expected-to-be-involved-with-lsu-transfer-dedan-thomas-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702927\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky expected to be involved with LSU transfer Dedan Thomas Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/teams\/kentucky-wildcats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kentucky<\/a> is expected to be in the mix for one of the top guard transfers in the SEC, sources tell KSR.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/dedan-thomas-150977\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dedan Thomas Jr.<\/a>, who averaged 15.3 points, 6.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per contest at LSU in 2025-26, is on the Wildcats\u2019 radar and will be someone to watch in the coming days as Mark Pope searches for a starting point guard replacement following Jaland Lowe\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was limited to 16 games this past season as a Tiger due to injury, undergoing season-ending foot surgery in February after going down right before SEC play began. He missed the first five games of league play and returned for three outings, only to re-aggravate the injury and opt for surgery with LSU near the bottom of the standings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince arriving on campus and earning his captain\u2019s role, DJ has been a great teammate and a relentless competitor,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/lsusports.net\/sports\/mb\/roster\/player\/dedan-thomas-jr\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> then-LSU head coach Matt McMahon said at the time. <\/a>\u201cHe makes everyone in our program better. I admire the toughness and fight DJ has shown since suffering his foot injury. He has done everything in his power to work through the pain and get back on the court. I\u2019m disappointed for DJ that his season has come to an end. We look forward to supporting him through his recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky ultimately ended LSU\u2019s season in the SEC Tournament with an 87-82 victory. The Tigers jumped out to a 12-1 record in the non-conference before Thomas\u2019 foot injury. He had three double-doubles with points and assists this season with double-digit scoring outings in 14 of 16 games played \u2014 including three of 20-plus. <\/p>\n<p>Prior to his move to the SEC, Thomas averaged 15.6 points and 4.7 assists as a sophomore at UNLV and 13.6 points and 5.1 assists as a freshman. He\u2019s shooting 34.6 percent from three in three years in college with 44\/35\/75 splits overall in 76 total games played.<\/p>\n<p>Could this be Kentucky\u2019s point guard of the future?<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/kentucky-wildcats\/news\/kentucky-set-host-zoom-sec-guard\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> KSR+ has more intel on the early stages of Thomas\u2019 recruitment \u2014 and just how serious things are with the Wildcats.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Now is the time to try KSR+<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever been curious about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/kentucky-wildcats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KSR+<\/a>, our premium sister site, now is the time to try it out. We\u2019re doubling down our efforts to bring you bonus coverage of the Cats and the intel and analysis you can\u2019t get anywhere else. Subscribe now for an inside look at a pivotal offseason for Mark Pope and Kentucky Basketball and Will Stein\u2019s first year at the helm of Kentucky Football, along with access to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/boards\/forums\/ksboard.172\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KSBoard<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/boards\/forums\/the-house-of-blue.516\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">House of Blue<\/a>, the most vibrant message board communities in BBN.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/kentucky-wildcats\/join\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Join the club right now for 50% off an annual subscription.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kentucky is expected to be in the mix for one of the top guard transfers in the SEC,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,52412,4000],"class_list":{"0":"post-702927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dedan-thomas-23-liberty","10":"tag-kentucky-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116362512459010615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702927","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=702927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}