Stay in the NBA Draft or return to Kentucky? Chris Livingston discusses his process.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, Chris Livingston will make a final decision on his basketball future.

Whichever path he picks will obviously have a major impact on Kentucky’s prospects for the 2023-24 season. And, as of now, Livingston is still open to both options on the table.

On one hand, he could return to Lexington for a sophomore year, a move that would bolster the Wildcats’ talented — but largely unproven — roster with an experienced player possessing NBA potential.

Or Livingston could keep his name in the 2023 NBA Draft, a bit of a gamble as he’s not widely projected as a selection this year but a route that remains realistic as he continues to work his way through the pre-draft process.

On Wednesday afternoon, Livingston spoke at length with the Herald-Leader at the NBA combine in Chicago, where he’s been going through basketball drills and meeting with team officials but has opted out of participating in the five-on-five games that highlight the annual event.

With the NBA Draft about a month away, the prominent projections say Livingston still has some work to do. He was not listed in the full mock drafts from The Athletic and Yahoo Sports that were posted after Tuesday night’s lottery, which set the 2023 order. ESPN’s list of the best available players in the draft places Livingston at No. 74 overall. (There will be only 58 picks this year.)

There’s obviously still time for Livingston to make an impression on the league’s decision-makers. He said Wednesday that he’d already met with representatives of the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz this week, and — after the combine activities wrap up — he’s planning workouts with additional teams. A session with the Boston Celtics has already been scheduled, and the 19-year-old forward said several other teams want to bring him in for a closer look.

John Calipari has also remained in close contact. The UK coach checked in on Livingston while in Los Angeles last week, watching a workout and coming away wowed by what he saw.

“He got so much better for us by the end of the year and he looks like he’s taken another leap forward,” Calipari tweeted on May 9. “Chris is one of the most driven, caring, smart kids I’ve ever coached. I absolutely love him.”

That comment on the current state of his game is not hyperbole, according to Livingston.

“I feel as though what he said is justified,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting better each day, and I feel like that’s going to show.”

Last season at Kentucky, the 6-foot-6 forward averaged 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.4 minutes per game, getting off to a relatively slow and inconsistent start before emerging as a starter and major-minutes player for the Wildcats, accepting a do-whatever-is-needed role on a UK team that often showcased more veteran players.

Livingston acknowledged toward the end of the season that it was a difficult and sometimes frustrating transition after always being the star player on his high school and AAU teams, but it’s an experience that — two months after the season ended — he knows helped advance his game.

“I feel as though I grew in a lot of ways, with the intangibles — as far as where I wanted to grow,” he said. “Getting better without my hands being on the ball. Without just the scoring part, but just learning how to play hard every possession. Learning the importance of defense and defensive assignments and adjustments and just being locked in on the game plan.”

And there are zero regrets regarding his decision to choose Kentucky over other options that might have given him a much larger role — especially offensively — right off the bat.

“Being at Kentucky, I knew I was going to be held accountable a lot more,” he said. “To be able to be pushed by Coach Cal, rather than just being at a program where I got to do whatever I wanted to do. I feel as though that’s really going to prepare me for the next level, and I’m glad I was able to enjoy that at Kentucky. And I’m glad I went there.”

Where he goes from here remains a mystery.

Chris Livingston’s decision

For the time being, Livingston is fully engaged in the NBA Draft process.

He said his priorities over the past couple of months have been developing a more consistent jump shot, especially from a catch-and-shoot perspective, pointing out that his role in the NBA would likely include an ability to knock down corner three-pointers. (He made 48 percent of his threes in the long-range shooting drill at the combine earlier in the week.)

He’s also continuing to improve as a ball-handler and defender.

Ultimately, Livingston said, his final decision will come down to what kind of feedback he gets from the NBA officials he meets with over the next couple of weeks. So far, he’s heard nothing in the form of a guarantee from any pro teams. He also hasn’t been explicitly advised to stay in school by the teams he’s met with.

“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a guarantee with something like this,” Livingston said. “It’s more so me betting on myself to begin with. And also just positive feedback — teams are blunt. This is the NBA. This is a grown man’s league. A team is going to tell you if they think you’re not ready. If you’re not ready for this next step. But I haven’t heard anything like that so far. And I don’t think I will later on during the process. (But) that’s something I’m listening for.”

Livingston also dispelled a couple of narratives that have popped up over the past few weeks.

First, there was never any serious consideration given to entering the NCAA’s transfer portal, a move that would have left him the option to switch schools if he ultimately pulled out of the draft. The deadline to enter the portal was last week, and Livingston said he was aware those rumors were out there, but his intention all along has been to either stay in the draft or return to UK.

Livingston wore a shirt featuring Klutch Sports — the agency that handled his NIL opportunities last season — to his media session Wednesday, and there’s been plenty of talk this spring that the group has been pushing Livingston to keep his name in the draft.

He pushed back strongly against that narrative.

“I don’t know how that would work, because Klutch works for me. I’m the player,” he said. “My decision will be made by me, and what I want to do with my basketball career. I take a lot of consideration in the moves that I make. I’m also very religious, so I also pray on the things that I do. I might be getting advice from a circle — and obviously I’m not winging anything that I do — but nobody’s pushing me to do anything I don’t want to do. That wouldn’t make any sense.”

Livingston has spoken in the past about how he controlled his own basketball decisions to this point in his young career. First, he left his hometown of Akron to play his final season at Oak Hill Academy. Then, he picked Kentucky — knowing he’d likely play a lesser role — over other avenues that might have given him a bigger opportunity for high-scoring games and unlimited playing time. Both of those decisions were counter to the wishes of some around him.

This decision will also “most definitely” be his to make, he stressed.

And Kentucky fans likely won’t have to wait until the last minute to know what Livingston will do. He said he will make an announcement sometime before the May 31 deadline, after he meets with more teams and takes part in some workouts.

Right now, UK has only seven confirmed scholarship players for the 2023-24 season, a group that includes a five-player recruiting class that’s stacked with top-10 prospects and ranked No. 1 in the country, along with Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso, who played limited minutes as freshmen on last season’s team.

That’s a lot of upside, but not much experience.

Calipari is also still waiting on NBA decisions from seniors Oscar Tshiebwe and Antonio Reeves — the team’s two top scorers last season — as well as looking at options in the transfer portal.

Getting Livingston back in the fold would obviously be a major addition to the Wildcats’ roster.

While Livingston isn’t exactly sure where he would play on next season’s Kentucky team, he said he’d go into a possible second year of college with the same mindset as his first one — a goal to impact the game in whatever way was needed.

That wouldn’t necessarily mean a different style of play, he clarified, though he does think he’d be in a position to make a larger impact right away.

“Someone that’s looking to dominate. Not take a backseat to anyone,” he said of a possible year two at UK. “Someone that’s looking to be ready to play for Big Blue Nation, playing hard and just hungry. Someone who’s really hungry and focused.

“I do think my role would significantly increase. The fans and people got to see that toward the end of the year. You got to see that as I got to be out there on the floor more. But it starts defensively and by playing hard. If I’m not doing that, I can’t play for anybody. So that’s what it would start with. And I think my role would increase, for sure.”

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