NBA Draft recap

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Here’s a collection of stories as three Cats go in the Lottery:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The Sacramento Kings have selected Kentucky point guard De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick in the NBA draft.

Sacramento had a glaring need for a point guard with Darren Collison, Ty Lawson and Langston Galloway all headed to unrestricted free agency next month and general manager Vlade Divac pounced Thursday when Fox was available.

Fox is extremely quick and a skilled ball handler who showed the ability to get to the basket in his one season at Kentucky. He boosted his stock when he outplayed UCLA’s Lonzo Ball in the Sweet Sixteen, scoring 39 points in a Wildcats win.

Fox averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The Charlotte Hornets selected shooting guard Malik Monk from Kentucky with the 11th pick in the NBA draft.

Two days after trading for eight-time All-Star center Dwight Howard, the Hornets looked to bolster their outside shooting Thursday night with the 6-foot-3 Monk.

Monk raised his stock with a 47-point performance on eight 3-pointers against eventual national champion North Carolina last December. He helps fill the void left by backup shooting guard Marco Belinelli, who was dealt to Atlanta in the deal for Howard.

Monk went on to be named SEC freshman of the year, averaging 19.8 points per game and shot 39.7 percent from 3-point range. He was the winner of the Jerry West Award given to the nation’s top shooting guard.

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MIAMI (AP) – The Miami Heat have selected Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo with the No. 14 pick in the NBA draft.

Adebayo shot 60 percent in his lone college season, averaging 13.0 points and a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-10, 243-pounder was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school, then was an All-SEC second-team pick this past season.

Adebayo becomes only the second lottery pick for the Heat in the last nine drafts, the other being No. 10 Justise Winslow in 2015. He was the third Kentucky player taken in the first 14 picks of this draft.

The Heat went 41-41 last season, missing the playoffs despite winning 30 of their final 41 games.