Isaiah Reed Sheppard (born June 24, 2004) is an American professional basketball player for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was a consensus four-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2023 class. Sheppard was drafted as the 3rd pick 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 ...

by the Houston Rockets.

Early life and high school career

Sheppard grew up in London, Kentucky and attended

North Laurel High School Laurel County Public Schools is a school district headquartered in London, Kentucky. It is one of two districts serving Laurel County, and is the only one of the two to operate high schools. The district was established in 1840. The Superintend ...

. He became North Laurel's starting

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

as a freshman and averaged 20.6 points per game. Sheppard led the state of Kentucky in scoring during his sophomore season after averaging 30.1 points per game in 28 games played. He was named the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior after averaging 25.5 points, 7.6 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals per game. Sheppard was selected to play in the

2023 McDonald's All-American Boys Game The 2023 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an all-star basketball game that was played on March 28, 2023, at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in the c ...

during his senior year. He was named

Kentucky Mr. Basketball The Kentucky Mr. Basketball honor recognizes the top high school senior basketball player in the state of Kentucky. The first Kentucky Mr. Basketball was "King" Kelly Coleman of Wayland High School in 1956. The winner of the Mr. Basketball award we ...

after averaging 22.5 points, 8.5 assists and 8.4 rebounds per game. Sheppard finished his high school career with 3,727 points, 1,214 assists and 1,050 rebounds.

Recruiting

Sheppard was considered a top-50 prospect in the 2023 class. On November 20, 2021, he committed to playing college basketball for Kentucky over offers from Louisville and Virginia.

College career

Sheppard enrolled at the University of Kentucky in June 2023, shortly after graduating from high school. He was assigned jersey number 15, his father's number. During the summer before his freshman year Sheppard played for the Wildcats in the GLOBL JAM tournament in Canada and averaged 8.5 points, 5.8 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game over four games as the team went undefeated and won the tournament. After the regular season, Sheppard was named SEC Freshman of the Year by the conference coaches. At the end of the season, Sheppard was named the national freshman of the year by both the

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 by National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The USBWA annually awa ...

and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. On April 18, 2024, Sheppard announced that he would declare for the

and forego his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Houston Rockets (2024–present)

Sheppard was selected with the third overall pick by the

in the

. He signed a rookie-scale contract with the team on July 3, 2024.

Career statistics

College

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Personal life

Sheppard's father,

Jeff Sheppard Jeffrey Kyle Sheppard (born September 29, 1974) is a retired American professional and collegiate basketball player. Born in Marietta, Georgia, Sheppard was Player of the Year in Georgia in 1993 at McIntosh High School in Peachtree City. The ...

, played college basketball at Kentucky and was the

Most Outstanding Player The term Most Outstanding Player may refer to: * The recipient of the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award * The NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player award * The College World Series Most Outstanding Player in college baseball * The N ...

of the 1998 NCAA tournament and later played in 18 games during the

1998–99 NBA season The 1998–99 NBA season was the 53rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Due to a lockout, the season did not start until February 5, 1999, after a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached between the NBA and the N ...

for the Atlanta Hawks. His mother, the former Stacey Reed, also played basketball at Kentucky and scored over 1,400 career points. Sheppard's older sister, Madison, played college basketball at Campbellsville University.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Kentucky Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Reed 2004 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Kentucky Houston Rockets draft picks Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players People from London, Kentucky Shooting guards 21st-century American sportsmen