Malachi Moreno’s dream since childhood has been to play in the NBA.
Being part of a Kentucky basketball team that hangs a banner in Rupp Arena has also been on the Georgetown native’s wish list for as long as he can remember.
To strike while the iron is hot on one of those goals, he might have to give up on the other.
And that’s going to make the next couple of weeks an excruciating exercise.
The NBA Combine this week is something of a crossroads for the young Wildcat, and whichever direction he takes from here will mark a turning point for his own basketball career.
His decision will also have a major impact on UK’s 2026-27 season.
As Moreno spoke with reporters at the Combine on Wednesday night, he alternated between “we” and “they” while talking about Kentucky and the program’s outlook for next season, a sign, he acknowledged when it was pointed out to him, of just how difficult this decision is going to be and just how present each of the two conflicting scenarios have been in his mind the past few weeks.
“This is my dream, to be in the NBA, so I’m looking at it with my best foot forward,” Moreno said. “I mean, obviously I left the option on the table to go back to college if I could. But, right now, all that’s leading into the decision is just how these next couple weeks go.”
Moreno is well aware that he’ll have to make a call one way or the other by 11:59 p.m. ET on May 27, the deadline for college basketball players to withdraw from the 2026 NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility. He offered up that date in passing as he discussed his decision.
The 7-footer said his older brother, former Eastern Kentucky basketball standout Michael Moreno, would be the person he relies on most for guidance between now and then. They’ll have a lot to sort through in the coming days.
Moreno’s stock has seemingly been on the rise since he entered his name in the NBA draft last month. A wave of new mock drafts were posted following the NBA lottery draw Sunday, and the 19-year-old was No. 39 on the Yahoo Sports board and No. 43 overall on ESPN’s list. But the chatter in Chicago this week has suggested he could go higher, perhaps even working his way into the first round of next month’s draft.
His decision to pull out of the 5-on-5 scrimmages at the Combine — after initially being placed on a roster for those optional sessions — raised eyebrows.
“After talks with my brother and my agent, they kind of just said that they thought I was in a pretty good spot,” Moreno said of that move.
He told the Herald-Leader that — in addition to a pre-Combine workout for the New York Knicks — he’d met with representatives of the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers while here, with more workouts and team meetings being scheduled for the near future, as well as a “pro day” showcase for NBA scouts scheduled to take place in Los Angeles next week.
Ensuring he goes into that event at “full strength” was also a factor in his decision to opt out of the Combine scrimmages. Moreno also said he wasn’t necessarily looking for a “guarantee” from an NBA team before he makes the final call on his stay-or-go decision.
“Obviously, I would love to be a first-round pick. That’d be great,” he said. “But, like I said, I got two weeks before I gotta make any kind of decision, so I’m just talking with my inner circle and seeing what’s the best decision.”
That list of team meetings that have already taken place in Chicago is an interesting one, and the Herald-Leader was told earlier in the week that the Celtics — viewed as one of the league’s top franchises — have been especially enamored with Moreno.
Boston has the No. 27 pick in the June 23 draft, and its current status as a perennial NBA title contender means the Celtics likely won’t be picking in the lottery anytime soon, perhaps making them more willing to take a chance on a player a year early if they think he might be selected in that lottery range in the future.
Guesswork like that will dominate the narrative around Moreno for the next two weeks, and he acknowledged Wednesday that his ambitious itinerary — with more team meetings still being planned — brings a high likelihood that the decision could stretch all the way until that May 27 deadline.
He also pushed back on the once-prevalent narrative that he entered this year’s NBA draft solely as a fact-finding mission of sorts, an opportunity to go through the process simply to get feedback from professional decision makers before ultimately returning to Kentucky.
“I think it was more of a misconception,” he said. “Going into this process, I knew I had a good shot, so I wanted to kind of just put my head down and work and see where it led me. And I think, right now, I’m sitting in a good place.”
Meanwhile, coach Mark Pope and the rest of the UK staff are sitting in a holding pattern. Pope was in Chicago on Wednesday, and some of his assistant coaches have been in and out of town throughout the week. Moreno said he’s seen them all, and they’ve told him to keep working hard and stay positive throughout the process.
Penciled in as the starting center on next season’s Kentucky team after playing that role as a freshman, Moreno has also been keeping close tabs on the rest of the roster Pope has put together this spring.
Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins are projected as a dual-threat playmaking tandem in the backcourt, and both players should complement Moreno’s game well, putting him in a position to thrive further offensively.
Moreno said he’s known Diallo for years and played the role of “team host” on several recruiting visits this spring, so he’s gotten to know most of the UK newcomers personally. “And I can say that they’re some pretty swell guys,” he said.
The rest of the roster is intriguing, but losing Moreno would open up a major hole at the 5 spot that Pope would have difficulty filling at this late stage in the process. It’s a loss that the UK coach can ill afford going into what could be a pivotal third season of his tenure.
Moreno knows those stakes well, too. He’s aware of the angst, in some fan circles, coming off a disappointing 2025-26 season, one in which he was among the few bright spots. He thinks the program is in a good spot and that Pope will have Kentucky winning big in the future.
But Moreno also has his own future to think about. And that’s going to make for a tough two weeks. Asked if he felt any pressure to come back to UK and help the team he grew up rooting for return to greatness, Moreno didn’t mince words.
“Definitely,” he said. “I mean, I love the city of Lexington. I love Kentucky. They’re the reason that I’m here today. So I definitely have a strong pull there. I mean, I don’t want to leave. But at the same time, this is my dream. So if the best opportunity is for me to stay (in the draft), then that might just be where I go.”