The University of Kentucky has long been a hotbed for NBA talent to develop, although one of its biggest stars never made much of a name for himself in the Association despite finding early success as a recruit.
The University of Kentucky can boast eight NCAA championships, and under legendary coaches like John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and others, the Wildcats are right up there with Duke, Kansas, and UCLA as premier schools for future NBA players.
Despite falling short of winning a title in 2014 and 2015, the Wildcats boasted 11 NBA players in those two years. Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker headlined the ‘15 team, but twins Aaron and Andrew Harrison were two of the more highly-touted recruits.
Despite making an All-American team in high school and being the fifth-best prospect coming out of high school, Aaron Harrison went undrafted in 2015 and had a very forgettable NBA career, and he knew he wouldn’t make it early on.
Between Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, and Andrew and Aaron Harrison in the starting lineup, points and shots were hard to get on the 2015 Kentucky Wildcats. Add in Booker coming in off the bench, and it’s a wonder that Harrison was able to average 11 points per game in his second and final season.
After losing in the Final Four to Wisconsin, Aaron would declare for the 2015 NBA Draft, signing as an undrafted free agent to the Charlotte Hornets.
He would spend parts of two seasons in Charlotte before ending his career after nine games with the Dallas Mavericks. He argues that he was never given a chance to blossom in the NBA, unlike his college teammates.
“My coach (Steve Clifford) actually told me one game, we were playing the Raptors, I think it was probably the 10th or 11th game of the year,” he reflected.
“Hadn’t played, send the Raptors in, DeRozan was on the team. He was like, ‘You better be ready tonight, you might have to guard DeRozan, like you might even start.’”
Up until that point, Harrison had only played in three minutes that season, and the Hornets were still rebuilding.
“This is like before I’m playing,” Harrison continued. “I’m not in a rotation at all, but he just told me this, so I’m like, alright. But I’m ready, I’m hype. I call my pops, my pops flew in, so I’m hype, like I’m ready. I don’t play at all.”
Harrison would play in only five games during the 2016-17 season with the Hornets before being cut.
After three forgettable NBA seasons, Harrison would sign with Galatasaray in Istanbul. He would play in Turkey, Greece, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, Portugal, and Mexico.
In the competitive European leagues, he averaged a solid 11.2 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 36.4% from deep.
He was far from a star, but after being respected in Europe, he never attempted an NBA comeback and hasn’t gotten over how Clifford and the Hornets treated him during that game against the Raptors.
“He looked me dead in my face like, ‘You might start tonight, and you got to be ready,’ and I didn’t play at all,” he added. “So I’m like, okay, cool, like I’m about to play. I didn’t play at all, and I’m about to cut. I just got a feeling like they’re about to cut me.”
Harrison was far from a star in college, but neither were NBA standouts like Booker, DeAndre Jordan, Myles Turner, and Zach LaVine had less-than-impressive NCAA careers but went on to thrive.
