Karter Knox has close ties to UK and Louisville. How will star recruit make his choice?

Of all the class of 2024 and 2025 recruitments the Kentucky men’s basketball program finds itself invested in, few match the intimacy of trying to bring Karter Knox to Lexington.

Largely, that’s because Karter Knox has been to Lexington before. Plenty of times, in fact.

A younger brother of former Kentucky one-and-done and 2018 NBA Draft lottery pick Kevin Knox, Karter has blossomed into a star recruit in the 2024 class, a player the Wildcats and plenty of other programs are eager to land.

The 6-foot-5, 205-pound small forward began his time at Peach Jam — the end-of-season Nike EYBL tournament held near the Georgia-South Carolina border — by making a slew of winning plays to help his Florida Rebels to its first two wins at the event.

Be it scoring in transition, using his size to grab rebounds or his three-level scoring ability, Knox looked every part of the five-star, top-10 recruit he is to begin the prestigious event.

“I want to improve on guarding smaller guards, 94 feet, picking them up,” Knox told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday night. “Of course I’ve been working on my playmaking skills. I can score on all three levels, I know that, but I really want to work on playmaking and defending.”

Thursday at Peach Jam was to bring another layer, though.

On Thursday the NCAA recruiting calendar was to shift from a quiet period to an evaluation period for the rest of Peach Jam, which runs through Sunday.

Per the NCAA, a quiet period “is that period of time when it is permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution’s campus. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations may be made during the quiet period.”

Per the NCAA, an evaluation period “is that period of time when it is permissible for authorized athletics department staff members to be involved in off-campus activities designed to assess the academic qualifications and playing ability of prospective student-athletes.”

Essentially, this meant college coaches and recruiting personnel would be descending upon the Riverview Park Activities Center starting Thursday to watch prospects play. And for Knox, this meant a select group of schools would be particularly interested in him.

In May, Knox released a list of his final eight post-high school basketball pathways.

The list?

Auburn, Arkansas, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, South Florida and the NBA’s G-League Ignite program.

“I’ll be honest, it’s not that hard,” Knox said when asked about staying focused despite the presence of college coaches.

“I played at Peach Jam last year. ... I’m pretty much used to it. Just going on, working on my game. Just really locked into the game.”

While Knox said he hasn’t made his college choice yet, he hinted that a decision “should be coming soon.”

In the meantime, it’s only natural to look at the programs Knox has the closest connections to, with family being a common theme.

There’s the obvious ties, and trust, between the Knox family and UK.

The program — with John Calipari at the helm — took Kevin Knox and helped him become an NBA Draft lottery pick. Karter was along for plenty of trips to Lexington, during both the recruitment of his older brother and afterward.

But also integral to Kevin Knox’s success was Kenny Payne, who is now in his second season as Louisville head coach.

Payne was UK’s associate head coach when Kevin Knox was in school, and then later worked with Kevin as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. When Karter visited his older brother in New York City, he would sometimes work out with Payne.

Knox’s lone two official visits have come to UK (for last year’s Big Blue Madness) and to Louisville. He attended last season’s U of L home loss to Wright State.

There’s another Knox brother, Kobe, who began his college career at Grand Canyon University before transferring this offseason to South Florida in Tampa, which is located close to home for the Knox family.

Karter’s father, Kevin Knox Sr., and mother, Michelle, were both student-athletes at Florida State.

So Karter isn’t starved for college connections.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

So when the time comes to make his own college choice, what factors will be the most important?

“Development, coaching, the fans. That’s what I’m really looking for.”

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