Kentucky reached out to Braydon Hawthorne the day he decommitted from West Virginia
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Freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne put up a shot during a recent UK practice. (Chet White/UK Athletics)
Braydon Hawthorne can’t quite remember exactly why his dad took him to a Kentucky men’s basketball Father-Son Camp several years back, but the finer details don’t exactly matter anymore for the incoming Wildcat freshman.
Raised in Beckley, WV — a near four-hour drive from Lexington, KY — Hawthorne is living a full-circle moment. After his surprise commitment to Kentucky back in May, the Big Blue Nation quickly learned that Hawthorne was born to play for the ‘Cats. That Father-Son Camp, where he remembers meeting Willie Cauley-Stein, was just the beginning of a story that features UK as his dream school.
The memories he has from that camp over a decade ago have stayed with him throughout his childhood and now hang as pictures in his dorm room on campus.
“It means everything being here now,” Hawthorne told reporters Thursday. “As a little kid, I had the picture from the Father-Son Camp with me, my brother, and my dad, just looking at that every day. Now being here, it’s an honor, to be honest with you.”
Hawthorne didn’t expect to be in the position he is now, though. After transferring to Huntington Prep (WV) for his senior high school season, the project player was rapidly polishing his game. Clocking in at a long and skinny 6-foot-8, 175 pounds, Hawthorne went from being ranked outside the top 100 nationally to being considered a top 35 recruit in the 2025 cycle by the time he graduated.
Kentucky coaches showed some interest last summer/fall, but he committed to West Virginia in October before assistant coach Jason Hart could make a push. Hawthorne even told reporters that Hart planned to come watch him play early into the 2024-25 season, but he pulled the trigger and pledged to the Mountaineers before it could happen.
Head coach Mark Pope actually did get the opportunity to see Hawthorne play when Huntington Prep came to Woodford County High School in February for a game, although it wasn’t planned that way. Fellow Kentucky freshman Jasper Johnson and his Overtime Elite team, RWE, were headlining an event called the Court XIV Classic. Johnson and RWE just barely beat Hawthorne and Huntington Prep, 71-70.
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All eyes were on Johnson for that one. Little did we know at the time, Pope’s presence at that game would pay off in another way. Once Hawthorne backed off his WVU commitment a month later in March, it didn’t take Hart long to reconnect.
“I heard from the Kentucky staff the first day I opened up my recruitment,” Hawthorne said, adding that he wasn’t anticipating hearing from UK. “That meant a lot to me, this being my dream school growing up. I was in my room not knowing what to do.”
After decommitting from WVU, Hawthorne took several official visits in the spring to Virginia Tech, Pitt, Duke, Kentucky, and another trip to see the Mountaineers again. He was down to those five programs by mid-May and signed with the Wildcats a few days later.
Now several weeks into summer practice, Hawthorne has been able to live another full-circle moment as a Wildcat. 10-plus years after meeting Cauley-Stein (who suited up for UK’s alumni team, La Familia, in this year’s The Basketball Tournament), Hawthorne went up against the seven-footer during closed-door practices and a scrimmage. Hawthorne is already drawing comparisons to Tayshaun Prince, too.
That’s about as close to living out a dream as one Kentucky fan can possibly get.
