It’s the middle of May, basketball season has been over for nearly two months, and all eyes in Kentucky are still on Otega Oweh.
This week at the NBA Combine, plenty of outside eyes have been on the UK star.
Oweh has spent the past several days in Chicago, home to the biggest event in the predraft process, a week filled with measurements, agility tests, competitive games and meetings with the league’s decision-makers.
On Wednesday afternoon, Oweh spoke with the Herald-Leader about the Combine and his overall place in the NBA picture as he weighs keeping his name in this year’s draft or returning to UK for one more season of college basketball, with the deadline to make that decision looming.
“It’s been great,” he said. “Just going through the process — you know, it’s the Combine. This is what you dream about. I remember when I was younger, I was watching all this stuff. And now I’m in it. So it’s just a great situation. And I’m just blessed to be here. The experience has been amazing.”
Oweh had several meetings with NBA teams scheduled for Thursday, and he had been in the middle of plenty of predraft action before he arrived in Chicago. He’s already had team workouts with the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers.
“They went really well. I got a lot of good feedback,” Oweh said. “It was a lot of just playing. And, you know, I love playing. So those workouts went really, really well. I’m just using this whole process to get as much feedback as I can. And whatever they tell me, that’s how I’ll make my decision.”
Oweh said that NBA teams have been telling him he’s a “plug and play” guy in the league.
“It’s kind of no doubt that I could play at the next level,” he said. “But it’s just the little things that they’re still trying to see. Overall, a lot of guys have just been high on me, on my game. And they’ve given me a lot of jewels that I can implement my game with.”
That feedback has included a desire to see Oweh get in even better physical condition ahead of his pro career. “They even said, like, ‘Throughout the season, you were still effective in times where you may have been tired. But imagine if you’re not tired, what you could do.’”
NBA front-office officials have also told Oweh they’d like to see him become more of a complete playmaker, as far as making decisions at the rim and recognizing what opposing defenses are doing when he gets in the lane, something UK coach Mark Pope also talked about this week as a possible area of improvement for his young star, along with his 3-point shooting.
Pope and Oweh have stayed in touch during this process.
The Kentucky coach was in Chicago on Wednesday, and the two had a conversation before Oweh’s first Combine scrimmage. He went 4-for-8 from the field — all 2-point attempts — and finished with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals in his team’s 104-80 victory.
During the game, Oweh said he spotted Pope in the stands, cheering him on. He also said other members of the Kentucky coaching staff have been in and out of town over the course of the week to offer their support. “To show that they’re with me every step of the way,” he added.
At some point in the next couple of weeks, all involved will know what Oweh plans to do next. As of now, he hasn’t made a decision on whether next season will be spent in the pros or back in Lexington.
“The main thing is — I’m just gonna enjoy this,” he said. “Because you only get to do this so many times. So being able to go to these different states and play and compete with these guys in their own facilities — it’s a great thing.
“So I’m trying to do as much as I can before I make that decision, and get as much feedback as I can, and just have as many eyes see me. So I don’t have a timetable, specifically, but I feel like maybe once the Combine is done, I’ll probably know more about which way I’m leaning.”
What’s next for Otega Oweh?
The Combine is technically over Sunday, but college players have until 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 28 to pull out of the draft and retain their NCAA eligibility. And Oweh said he has a couple of workouts with NBA teams already on the post-Combine calendar.
As of now, Oweh is not widely projected as an NBA draft pick this year. The order of selections was set Monday night, and that led to several mock draft updates from prominent websites. The latest such projections from ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report and Yahoo Sports all omitted Oweh.
The most recently updated Top 100 prospects list from ESPN had him at No. 72 overall in a draft that will include only 59 total picks.
Oweh’s invitation to participate in the Combine is a sign that there’s legitimate interest at the NBA level — the league’s decision-makers have a say in who makes the Combine list — but it sounds like Oweh will require more than mere “interest” to make the jump this year.
“I want to get to the NBA. So, I want to get drafted,” he said. “I don’t want to get picked up (as a free agent). And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. But, for me, I’m just going through the process as if I’m all in. I think I had a solid year that I could get drafted, but you never know until draft night. So that’s why I’m just all in on this process, just trying to go extra hard to better my odds.”
Oweh used that phrase — “all in” — during a media interview as part of his recent workout with the Trail Blazers, too, raising alarms in some corners of the UK fan base that he might be leaning toward staying in the draft.
But that’s a common approach for players in Oweh’s current situation. He’s not going through this process to waste anyone’s time. He simply wants to put himself in the best position to make the correct decision at the end of it. And he’s grateful for any and all feedback he can get.
And being “all in” on the NBA process doesn’t mean he isn’t paying attention to what’s happening back in Lexington.
When asked if he’d been keeping tabs on Pope’s roster-building efforts for the 2025-26 season, Oweh smiled and nodded. “One hundred percent,” he said. “I mean, that roster looks crazy. Yeah, it’s looking scary for any team that is gonna have to be on the other side.”
He let out a big laugh at that thought.
Pope’s transfer portal acquisitions include former Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe and SEC veteran Denzel Aberdeen, who played a key role in Florida’s national championship run this year. Five-star guard Jasper Johnson will be among the incoming freshmen.
Oweh, who wore a UK hoodie to his media session — while nearly everyone else in attendance was sporting NBA gear — also said he’d been staying in touch with Kentucky’s returning players. Collin Chandler, who could be ready for a major jump in his second college season, is part of that group.
The leading scorer from Pope’s first team — Oweh averaged 16.2 points per game this past season — acknowledged thinking about the possibilities that would come with joining that loaded backcourt.
“I know what my game is. I know what I could bring to the table,” he said. “So if I go back to school, I’m just gonna try and do the same thing that I’ve done though all my college years, but just even better. And then hopefully, if I come back to school, I’m coming back to win.
“I didn’t like the way that felt last year.”
That, of course, was a reference to Kentucky’s season-ending loss to Tennessee in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, an impressive run for Pope’s first season — under the circumstances — but one that fell short of the Wildcats’ ultimate goal.
Oweh’s potential return would put the Cats in an even better position to contend for a Final Four, possibly even a national championship. And, if he does spend another season in college basketball, Oweh expects the conversation around him to be different at next year’s Combine.
“If I don’t go this year — and I come back to school — I’m gonna work on my game. Like, so, so much, like, where it’s not even going to be a question of, ‘Is he a first-rounder?’ That’s the main thing for me. I feel like I just got to put my best foot forward.
“And the offseason is coming up, so I just can’t wait to work. Whatever situation I’m in — if I’m going to the NBA or if I’m going back to school — I just can’t wait to work. And then prove everything that I’ve done.”
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