Kentucky freshman center Malachi Moreno isn’t ruling anything out. The Georgetown, Ky., native told CBS Sports this week that his NBA Draft decision is wide open heading into the final stretch before the May 27 deadline, and the person he’s leaning on most isn’t his agent or his coaches.
It’s his older brother, Michael, a former standout at Eastern Kentucky University, who has been the defining influence on Malachi’s basketball life. Where Michael goes in this conversation, the decision is likely to follow.
Moreno’s Breakout Season Changed Everything
Nobody had Moreno penciled in as a starter when Kentucky’s season began. He was supposed to be the third center on the depth chart, a learning year kind of situation. Then Jayden Quaintance played just four games due to injury, Brandon Garrison’s role shifted, and suddenly Moreno was out there logging 22.6 minutes a night for a program with national expectations. He handled it.
By season’s end, he averaged 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 58.2% from the field.
That kind of production from an unheralded big man doesn’t go unnoticed in NBA circles, and it didn’t. The draft interest that followed is exactly why this decision isn’t the foregone conclusion many assumed it would be when Moreno first put his name in.
Reports indicate he even took a pay cut to consider returning to Kentucky rather than using the transfer portal, which speaks to his loyalty to the program. But loyalty and career opportunity are two different conversations.
“This is my dream, to be in the NBA, so I am looking at it with my best foot forward,” Moreno said. He added that he left the door open to return to college if the timing isn’t right, and that the next few weeks of workouts and conversations will drive the call.
“Obviously, I left the option on the table to go back to college if I could. Right now, all this leading into the decision is just how these next couple of weeks go.”
That context makes Moreno’s framing of the draft decision land differently.
“I know I have until the 27th to make that decision, and I will just have a lot of talks with my brother because he is probably going to be the most important factor in this decision, talks with my family, talks with my inner circle, and seeing what is the best decision for me at the time,” he said.
Why Michael Moreno Is ‘the Most Important Factor’
Moreno opted out of scrimmages at the NBA Draft Combine, a decision made in coordination with his brother and agent to preserve his body for a Pro Day and additional private workouts scheduled afterward.
“After talks with my brother, like I said, my agent, they kind of just said that they thought that I was in a pretty good spot,” Moreno explained. “I’ve got Pro Day coming up after this, after the week is over in L.A., and they want me to be full strength for that. Then I’ve got a couple more workouts after that that are getting set up.”
That kind of deference to Michael’s read on the situation isn’t new. It’s been the pattern for years.
Michael Moreno was a talented forward at EKU and the program’s best three-point shooter. Long before Malachi was a McDonald’s All-American candidate or an SEC freshman of note, he was the kid tagging along to Scott County High School practices, running loose balls, and handing out water bottles while his big brother worked.
Their bond built the player Malachi became. “His legacy is what built me,” Malachi has said. “So, anytime somebody brings it up, I say there’s no me without him.”
He’s not dismissing first-round status as a factor.
“Obviously, I would love to be a first-round pick. That would be great,” he said. “I’ve got two weeks before I’ve got to make any kind of decision, so I am kind of talking with my inner circle and seeing what the best decision is.”
He’s got workouts lined up, a brother who has navigated the professional basketball world ahead of him, and a program back in Lexington that would welcome him back. The next two weeks will sort out which path he takes.
