Karter Knox is creating his own legacy. But will he follow his brother to Kentucky?

Kevin Knox Sr. can vividly recall the moment he knew his youngest son, Karter, would follow in the footsteps of his two brothers, Kevin and Kobe, as a college basketball player.

And it came before any of the boys had joined a Division I basketball program.

The Knox family was on an official visit to Kentucky for their oldest son, Kevin, a consensus five-star recruit who eventually committed to the Wildcats as a one-and-done player and blossomed into an All-SEC First Team selection during the 2017-18 season.

Karter — a 6-6 small forward in the class of 2024 from Tampa, Florida — was only 11 years old when that UK visit for Kevin occurred, but it was Karter’s actions on the trip that are still stuck in his father’s memory.

“The dude has his own cones set up. We were just kind of shooting around and everything. And he’s going through his own drills that he’s watched over time. He’s over there just drilling himself,” Knox Sr. told the Herald-Leader last week. “Like, for 45, 50 minutes. I mean, just by himself, doing his own drills. I stopped and I looked at him and watched him do the drills. … The dude’s making like, between the legs, stepback threes. He’s going through it all by himself.”

Then, Knox Sr. reached a conclusion that’s now become reality.

“I was like, ‘This dude could be a problem.’”

Fast forward to Friday night and another full-circle moment will arrive for Karter and his family when he attends Big Blue Madness — the event that serves as the kickoff for both the UK men’s and women’s basketball seasons — inside Rupp Arena as one of several standout men’s basketball recruits set to visit for the event.

Obviously, it won’t be anything close to Karter’s first visit to Lexington.

Karter told the Herald-Leader earlier this year that he was at UK “nearly every weekend” while Kevin was in school, and the Knox family also attended Big Blue Madness last year.

But a return visit to UK’s signature preseason event still signifies another important step in Karter’s own recruiting process.

“Karter has a chip on his shoulder,” said Knox Sr., citing a common desire shared by younger siblings. “He’ll tell you, ‘I want to be better than my brother. I want to blaze my own trail.’”

How Karter Knox built his own basketball reputation

Karter has already gained his own reputation on the court, different from Kevin (a 6-7 forward who was the ninth overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and is currently with the Detroit Pistons) and Kobe (a 6-5 guard who redshirted last season as a freshman at Grand Canyon).

The standout athletic trait that binds all three brothers is length, a genetic gift thanks to their 6-3 father — a former Florida State and NFL wide receiver — and their 6-1 mother, Michelle, who played volleyball at Florida State.

“We knew we were going to have tall kids. ... I actually made all my kids play football first. Karter was a quarterback, and he was actually one of the top quarterbacks in the Tampa Bay area, the same as Kevin,” Knox Sr. explained.

Why stop with football?

“(Karter’s) feet became too big. It’s kind of hard to find cleats that big,” Knox Sr. added. “Watching Kevin and watching his maturation process, I just knew Karter, I had to go ahead and make him a basketball player instead of a football player.”

Early returns on that decision have been fruitful.

Karter, like Kevin before him, is ranked as a consensus five-star recruit and is currently the No. 5 player in the class of 2024 according to the 247Sports Composite.

His scholarship offer list is deep and prestigious, and includes both Kentucky and Louisville, a school Knox will visit later this month for U of L’s own preseason basketball event, Louisville Live.

Karter’s basketball résumé already includes a gold medal won with the United States last summer at the FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup — an event UK head coach John Calipari watched in person — as well as being named the top underclassman at July’s Peach Jam, the renowned Nike EYBL event.

The noteworthy play continued last weekend at USA Basketball’s Junior National Team Minicamp in Colorado, where Knox displayed an elevated scoring touch and polish against top-level opposition.

“He’s starting to be able to take over games and score a little bit more from everywhere a little bit more consistently,” said Rob Cassidy, who covers recruiting nationally for Rivals. “Everything he’s got seems like it’s going to translate. He’s got all that length, which kind of comes along with his family. He moves incredibly fluidly. ... He’s on a good trajectory.”

This success has helped crystallize Karter’s expectations for his basketball potential.

“I think that Karter, his dream, as a lot of kids’ dreams, is just to play in the NBA,” Knox Sr. said. “He likes to watch Paul George and Kawhi Leonard from a defensive standpoint. And Jimmy Butler, he’s a dog, as far as offense and defense and his mindset. Now all of a sudden we’re looking for a college that is going to cultivate that type of seed and help Karter grow into ultimately, hopefully, a hybrid of Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler.”

Knox Sr. hopes pressure strengthens Karter

The process of finding the right college to accomplish that is something the Knox family is well-versed in.

Earlier this year, Knox Sr. spoke to the Herald-Leader about how his family discusses different basketball scholarship offers that have been given to his sons.

Last week, he specifically discussed how Karter having a front-row seat to his brothers’ recruiting adventures can better inform his own journey.

Knox Sr. spoke of Karter going on visits with his brothers, sitting in on meetings with the coaching staffs at Duke and Florida State, attending rivalry games like Duke against North Carolina, being at the NBA Draft when Kevin was a lottery pick — and perhaps most relevant to a potential end destination at Kentucky — watching how Kevin navigated the media and the pressure in both Lexington and New York City with the NBA’s Knicks.

“You begin to shape up your dreams, you begin to shape up your wants for life. He saw how Kevin answered questions, how Kobe answered questions, he’s been in the car as I’ve done interviews when I’m talking about Kevin,” Knox Sr. raved. “All those things have shaped who Karter Knox is and what he wants to become.”

Karter is in the process of figuring that out, as only a high school junior and just months into the period when college basketball coaches can make unlimited calls and texts to him.

Something that Knox Sr. has reminded his son of during this critical time in his life?

The importance of not only surviving the pressure-packed situations, but welcoming them.

“I like for him to feel the pressure. I want him to feel the heat. And I want people to cut him up,” Knox Sr. said. “Because at the end of the day, if you apply pressure and you apply heat and you get cut up, you know what you become? A diamond.”

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