Kentucky's Antonio Reeves saw major improvement from his first year with the Wildcats to his second, and the sharpshooting guard was rewarded on Thursday by hearing his name called in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Reeves, who began his career at Illinois State, was picked by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 47th pick during the second round. In a move that seemingly indicates how much New Orleans coveted his shooting ability, the Pelicans traded up to select him.

The 6-foot-5 guard led Kentucky in scoring last season and was one of the most effective offensive players in all of college basketball. He was noticeably stronger, more explosive, and better able to create and finish in his second year in Lexington playing for a John Calipari team that won 23 games.

Reeves was one of the top scorers of the entire Calipari era in 2023-24, averaging 20.2 points (51.2% FG, 44.7% three-pointers, 86.3% FT) as well as 4.2 rebounds per game. That doubled his rebounding output from the previous season and he also only turned it over 1.2 times per game despite playing 31.5 minutes on average.

Reeves scored 27 points (11/18 FG) as one of Kentucky's lone bright spots in that loss to Oklahoma. He had seven straight 20-point games in February through early March leading into the postseason.

He joined teammates Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham in being selected in this year's draft. It marks the 24th time in UK Basketball history that the Cats have had at least three players picked in one draft.