By LARRY VAUGHT
Krysten Peek, basketball writer for YahooSports and Rivals, has Kentucky freshman Shaedon Sharpe sixth in her latest NBA mock draft behind Chet Holmgren of Gonzaga, Jabari Smith of Auburn, Paolo Banchero of Duke, Jaden Ivey of Purdue and Keegan Murray of Iowa.Peek has never wavered in her belief that Sharpe will be playing in the NBA next year rather than staying at Kentucky.“Even when I spoke to him in October I was kind of getting the impression his end goal was not to play at Kentucky. His end goal is to be an NBA player and why would he risk injury or his draft stock falling (by staying at Kentucky),” Peek said. “The intrigue of who he could be is more a positive than anything else right now.”Peek said Sharpe will still have to go through NBA team workouts even if he does decide to not attend the NBA Combine once he puts his name officially into the NBA draft.“There is no way he cannot at least do the workouts,” Peeks said. “If his workouts do not go well and he was to get feedback that he is not ready yet that could be the only way he returns to Kentucky but he was the No. 1 player (in the 2022 recruiting class) for a reason.”Peek does believe Sharpe wanted to play this year at Kentucky but the feedback from those around him was to just sit out and not play.Kentucky players several times talked about how good Sharpe looked in practice … but maybe not every practice.“What I heard from some NBA guys that were able to go to practice was that he was not really practicing, either,” Peek said. “I don’t know if that was to protect him with NBA guys there or not.”The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor also has Sharpe slotted sixth in his most recent mock draft as does Jonathon Givony of ESPN.“His scoring prowess in high school is enough to make him a lottery pick. Sharpe’s fluidity as an off-the-dribble scorer using an array of advanced moves alone makes him look like a no-brainer top-five pick,” O’Connor wrote. “Then you factor in his willingness to pass the ball and display grit on defense and you have to think he might have the potential to become a star.”