Antonio Reeves (born November 20, 2000) is an American basketball player for the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Illinois State Redbirds and the Kentucky Wildcats.

High school career

After a prep career at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix and Simeon Career Academy in his hometown Chicago, Reeves committed to Illinois State over offers from several other mid-major programs.

College career

Illinois State

Reeves was a key contributor for his first two seasons, earning a spot on the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) all-bench team as a sophomore. He declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

, but ultimately chose to return to the Redbirds for his junior season. In the 2021–22 season, Reeves averaged a career high 20.1 points per game And was named second-team All-MVC, however the team was not successful and coach

Dan Muller Daniel Cody Muller, generally known as Dan Muller (1889–1976) was a cowboy, an artist, illustrator, and writer of the American West. Having grown up on a ranch, he learned to break in horses, a skill he utilized for the United States Army duri ...

was fired. With the coaching change, Reeves decided to transfer to a winning program.

Kentucky

Reeves ultimately chose Kentucky and coach

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College C ...

. As a senior, he mostly came off the bench for the Wildcats and ranked second on the team in scoring behind All-American

Oscar Tshiebwe Oscar Tshiebwe (born 27 November 1999) is a Congolese college basketball player for the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball, Kentucky Wildcats of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He previously played for the West Virginia Mountaineers men's baske ...

at 14.4 points per game. At the close of the season, Reeves was named the Southeastern Conference (SEC) co-Sixth Man of the Year. He again tested the NBA draft waters and considered another transfer, but ultimately chose to return to Kentucky for a fifth year granted to players whose eligibility was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Entering his fifth year, Reeves was named preseason second-team All-SEC. As the season wore in, Reeves emerged as a key player for the Wildcats and senior presence for their talented recruiting class. In January 2024, he was named to the 25-man Wooden Award midseason watch list in recognition of his performance, along with teammate Reed Sheppard.

Professional career

New Orleans Pelicans (2024–present)

On June 27, 2024, Reeves was selected with the 47th overall pick by the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

in the

2024 NBA draft 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, however, immediately on draft night, he was traded to the

in exchange for two second-round pick swaps in 2030 and 2031. On July 23, he signed with the Pelicans.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois State , 31 , , 3 , , 22.4 , , .384 , , .314 , , .659 , , 2.5 , , .7 , , .6 , , .1 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;", Illinois State , 25 , , 24 , , 29.9 , , .425 , , .306 , , .763 , , 3.3 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .2 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Illinois State , 33 , , 33 , , 34.9 , , .469 , , .390 , , .818 , , 3.5 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , 20.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Kentucky , 34 , , 14 , , 27.9 , , .416 , , .398 , , .783 , , 2.1 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .2 , , 14.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Kentucky , 33 , , 33 , , 31.4 , , .512 , , .447 , , .863 , , 4.2 , , 1.6 , , .7 , , .2 , , 20.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 156 , , 107 , , 29.3 , , .452 , , .384 , , .801 , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , .2 , , 15.1

References

External links

Kentucky Wildcats bioIllinois State Redbirds bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Antonio 2000 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Orlando Magic draft picks Shooting guards 21st-century American sportsmen