Adou Thiero enters transfer portal and will test NBA waters

Adou Thiero isn’t 100% gone, at least not yet, anyway.

Per KSR, Thiero, who is also testing the NBA Draft waters, will consider a return to Kentucky Basketball.

My guess is that Thiero will ultimately return to ‘a’ school for another year. Where that is will be based on potential playing time and NIL offers.

This is a battle John Calipari desperately needs to win...

Well, this isn’t good.

According to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, Kentucky Wildcats sophomore forward Adou Thiero is entering the NCAA transfer portal.

Thiero becomes the first of what’s likely to be several transfers for the Wildcats in the coming weeks and months.

Originally a class of 2022 recruit out of Pennsylvania, Thiero appeared in 20 games as a true freshman, averaging 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds across 9.7 minutes per contest.

As a sophomore this past season, Thiero opened the season as a starter, but injuries led to him missing seven games. He gave Kentucky valuable minutes as a combo guard/forward who was arguably the team’s best defender.

In 25 games (19 starts), Thiero averaged 7.2 points (49.2% shooting and 31.8% 3-point shooting), 5.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game. He was easily Kentucky’s most physical player, and Calipari stressed getting more physical this offseason, so that’s already off to a rough start.

Adou’s father, Almamy Thiero, played for Coach Cal at Memphis from 2002-06 before finishing his career at Duquesne.

This is a bad sign for John Calipari if he can’t keep the son of one of his former players in the fold. There’s a chance Thiero is just testing the waters to see what kind of NIL offers he can get, but this is not great news as Calipari looks to kick off the most important offseason of his Kentucky Basketball career.

It’s worth noting that John Calipari has been in the process of meeting with players for end-of-season meetings, which are continuing Thursday. Perhaps Kentucky is now expecting to return more players than expected, making Thiero feel he needs to look elsewhere for more playing time, but that’s merely speculation at this point.

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