John Calipari weighs in on Davion Mintz's NBA Draft decision

All eyes are now on Davion Mintz.

After it was determined earlier on Friday that Kentucky freshman Isaiah Jackson would keep his name in the 2021 NBA Draft and that Keion Brooks Jr. would return for a junior year, Mintz is now the sole player left from last season’s roster who has not made a final decision on what he’ll do for the 2021-22 season. Will he turn pro? Or come back to Kentucky for a sixth year of college?

If you took a random poll of the Big Blue Nation, it’s fair to say the majority of the fan base would prefer Mintz suit up as a Wildcat one more time. The former Creighton transfer was robbed of the Kentucky experience due to the pandemic and the program’s worst record in a century. But not only that, he was arguably the best player from the 2020-21 roster.

When John Calipari spoke with the media on Friday morning for the first time since the season ended in March, he had plenty to say about Mintz, but he was careful with how he worried his answers. There was no definitive statement on what Mintz will do with his decision, but Calipari did give some hints that imply he might be expecting Mintz to give it another go in Lexington.

Towards the end of the interview, Calipari was asked directly by The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker if Mintz was coming back or not, which Cal quickly retorted with an “I don’t know” before adding that “However it happens, we’ll make it work,”. But throughout the 45-minute conversation with the media, Calipari talked as if Mintz (or somebody else) would help make up the backcourt rotation.

Let’s break it down a bit further.

As of right now, there are five guards on the roster for the 2021-22 season: Sahvir Wheeler, TyTy Washington, CJ Fredrick, Kellan Grady, and Dontaie Allen. During the press conference, Calipari was asked about his thoughts on Wheeler and the point guard’s personality, but quietly slipped in the idea that “We’re gonna have basically six guards with Dontaie (Allen).” Considering Calipari said in the same interview that he has “no intention” on adding any new pieces to next season’s roster, one would have to think that the sixth guard in reference is Mintz.

But Calipari didn’t stop there. There was a segment early on where he was asked about how he went from having no point guards following the transfer of Devin Askew and decommitment of Nolan Hickman, to adding a five-star in Washington and a top transfer in Wheeler. In a matter of days, Kentucky went from having no ball handlers to having two of the best available.

But that’s beside the point we’re talking about here. After Calipari rattled off Washington and Wheeler’s names to hype up the point guard duo, he was quick to add that Fredrick, Grady, and Mintz are all capable of sliding into that lead ball-handler role.

“Kellan (Grady) also played point guard,” Calipari said. “Matter of fact, the first year when we played Davidson in the NCAA Tournament, he was the point guard. He got 16 against us as a freshman. But he also is a scorer, averaging 17 over four years. Then CJ (Fredrick) is a scorer and has a shot that you must have nowadays, which is that floater, runner. Because he shoots nearly 50% from 3, he spreads the court, and it is like he can create that way too. Then you have Davion (Mintz), who at the end of the year we looked at and said, ‘Wow, you know, his numbers as a point guard with assist-to-turnover ratio and other things weren’t bad either.’”

I’ll reiterate that Calipari did not explicitly say if Mintz was staying or going, only adding that he continues to go through the NBA Draft process, but Cal did everything but say the combo guard was coming back. Mintz has until July 7 to remove his name from the draft if he does decide to come back to Kentucky.