Kentucky star Reed Sheppard calls coach Calipari “the greatest salesman in the world”

Kentucky Wildcats guard Reed Sheppard has nothing but high praise for his former coach, John Calipari. Sheppard had a phenomenal debut college basketball season under Calipari in the 2023-24 campaign, quickly becoming a fan favorite at Kentucky.

His scoring ability, court vision, and basketball IQ impressed fans and analysts alike, and across 33 games, Sheppard averaged 12.5 points, 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 steals.

On Wednesday, the 19-year-old appeared as a guest on "Podcast P with Paul George," where he spoke highly of Coach Calipari.

"Coach Cal is the greatest salesman in the world. For me, it was a no-brainer. For me, I'm from Kentucky. I live an hour from Lexington. So he didn't have to do much persuading for me. You know, I was kind of as soon as he offered, I was all in."

Reed Sheppard's remarkable skill and impact have been recognized. The 6-foot-2 guard earned several accolades in 2024, including USBWA Freshman of the Year, NABC Freshman of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, and Second-team All-SEC.

In April, Sheppard declared to enter the 2024 NBA draft and forgo the rest of his college eligibility.

Reed Sheppard discusses life lessons learned from coach John Calipari

Although Reed Sheppard only spent one season playing under John Calipari, he gained significant insights from him, both in basketball and life lessons. During the podcast, when co-host Dallas Rutherford asked Reed about the most significant life lesson he learned from Coach Cal, Reed replied:

"There's so much. He's had so many players. He'll tell you, he'll stop practice and he'll be like, this is something you'll do the rest of your basketball career, whether it's just how you go about the day, like coming into practice and you get off to a sloppy start practice, you know he's stopping it. He's starting over.

"It's like you're not going to be able to redo things in the NBA, when you get to the next level, it's either you're on the next level or you are not. So just going in every day with the mindset to compete, to get better."

Reed Sheppard is among the top five prospects in the NBA draft, according to several major media outlets such as ESPN, CBS Sports and Bleacher Report.