The University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Program has had just three first-team All-Americans during the Calipari regime. The most recent of the bunch, hipster center Willie Cauley-Stein, is on the move after four seasons in Sacramento. He won’t be traveling far, however, since his next stop is a simple greyhound and multiple hours of standstill traffic away, in San Francisco where he’ll team up with the Golden State Warriors.
Next to fellow Cat De’Aaron Fox, Cauley-Stein averaged 11.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists this past season for the overachieving Kings. Finally in a winning situation and surrounded by a promising young core, Cauley-Stein, Fox, Oklahoma folk hero Buddy Hield, and the rest of their lavender-outfitted crew blew the doors off preseason expectations, soaring to a playoff contending 39-43 final record after being pegged as just a 26-win team coming into to last season.