Rob Dillingham shares his battle with 'adversities' that helped him during his Kentucky journey: "It prepared me for the future"

Rob Dillingham, the 2024 SEC Sixth Man of the Year, is just a couple of days away from becoming an NBA player. The majority of mock drafts predict Dillingham will be selected somewhere between the eighth and 15th pick range.

Dillingham had a conversation with The Athletic and Stadium's Shams Charania, where he shared his career journey and his perspective on hardship and resilience. Dillingham was asked about how he coped with adversities growing up and how his approach evolved over time.

"Honestly, just like my life before getting to school was just preparing me for that moment because like I've been through a lot of difficult times, where you don't have someone to talk to you and you don't have someone to motivate you, so you gotta motivate yourself," Dillingham told Charania.

"They wanna see if you can bring it out yourself. So I say it just prepared me for the future and the Kentucky season and understanding that everything doesn't go your way and everything don't go the way on your time, it's just if you keep going and you keep trying, it's going to come."

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The 6-foot-3, 176-lb point guard spent a season at Kentucky, playing under coach John Calipari. He was a crucial player off the bench for the Wildcats, as they finished second in the Southeastern Conference regular season. Dillingham averaged 15.2 points, 3.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game.

Rob Dillingham sheds light on his lack of playing time at Kentucky

Even after going to college, Rob Dillingham continued to face challenges that started in his upbringing. Although he was expected to start many games during his freshman year, the North Carolina native only started one out of 32 matchups he played in.

He acknowledged that it was sometimes challenging, but realized that is how he would earn playing time.

"At first, it was a little difficult but over time, you just gotta grow into it and play with a chip on your shoulder and play basketball and understand that when you get in the game you gotta perform and if you don’t, you won’t get no more time," Rob Dillingham said.

He now awaits the NBA draft, knowing that challenges will not end there. In fact, once he enters the NBA, it will be even tougher with increased attention on him.

Rob Dillingham desires to join a team whose management and coaching staff have faith in his abilities. He believes that any team that puts its trust in him and supports his development can rely on him to fulfill any role it needs.