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Kentucky planning charity game between alumni and NBA stars

John Calipari

John Calipari

AP

During his time at Kentucky, head coach John Calipari has coached 32 players who went on to be NBA draft picks.

So, what would a Calipari-era Kentucky alumni team look like?

That’s something Kentucky Deputy Director of Athletics DeWayne Peevy is trying to figure out. Peevy, in an interview with Kentucky Sports Radio on Monday afternoon, discussed his plans to have a UK alumni team square off against NBA superstars in a charity game.

“What I’d like to do ... everybody talks about this all-Kentucky basketball team,” Peevy said. “That’s all we’ve been hearing about. I mean, I’m getting Google alerts all day about what the all-Kentucky basketball team looks like. I’d like to do that and invite one of these so-called, ‘NBA super teams’ to play against us, whether it’s the Warriors, the Rockets, you know, all these people putting these teams together, come play us.”

“I got a few feelers out, I’m talking to James Harden and Kevin Durant,” Peevy added. “Bring a team. I don’t even care if they combine themselves. They’re not taking down the Big Blue Nation.”

Peevy said that this game is set for Friday, August 25. It’s fitting, a day before the Floyd Mayweather-Connor McGregor megafight in Las Vegas, Peevy is speaking like a boxing promoter.

This won’t be the first time Kentucky has hosted a big-time charity event. In 2015, days after Calipari was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a Kentucky alumni team defeated a North Carolina alumni team, 122-115, as fundraising from the game reached $1.5 million.