Shawn Phillips Jr. Signs with New Orleans Pelicans
Shawn Phillips Jr. signed his first professional contract on Thursday as the Mizzou men’s basketball center officially joined the New Orleans Pelicans.
Phillips started 31 games for the Tigers during the 2026-27 campaign, averaging 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. He also ranked fifth in the SEC and 69th nationally with 1.52 blocks per game, while his field-goal mark of 68.3 percent ranks as the second-best clip in school history.
In 106 collegiate games, Phillips totaled 561 points, 442 rebounds and 114 blocks.
Phillips joins Mark Mitchell as Tigers to sign with NBA teams following the 2025-26 campaign as Mitchell joined the Denver Nuggets earlier on Thursday. The duo becomes the sixth and seventh players to sign with NBA franchises in four years under Whitten Family Head Coach Dennis Gates.
Kentucky basketball had quite the weekend when news broke that Missouri transfer Mark Mitchell had made his commitment to play for the Wildcats this season.
Mitchell fills the program’s final roster spot, allowing media across the country to finally speculate on just how good (or not good) Kentucky will be.
Jon Rothstein is one of college basketball’s top analysts and updated his Rothstein 45 on Sunday.
He has Kentucky at No. 15 in his rankings. Not too high but not at the back end, either.
The key addition is obviously Mitchell, but let’s not forget about Alex Wilkins, Milan Momcilovic, and Zoom Diallo.
Head coach Mark Pope lost several main contributors from last year’s team, including star forward Otega Oweh, and has reshuffled the deck with a transfer portal class that is rather impressive.
Where do you think Kentucky basketball should be ranked for this upcoming season? Is Rothstein pretty accurate with the No. 15 slot, or should the Wildcats be a bit higher following their surge in recruiting? Or maybe they should be a bit lower until they prove that their talent on paper can match their performance on the court?
Let us know in the comments below!
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