Reed Sheppard shines in his first game with the Houston Rockets

Former University of Kentucky basketball star Reed Sheppard made his NBA debut on Friday night. Sheppard played for the Houston Rockets in their first NBA Summer League game, and it wasn’t a bad first appearance for the former Wildcat. The Rockets drafted Sheppard with the third overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft last month. Sheppard put up a very respectable stat line in a 99-80 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The son of former Kentucky men’s basketball and NBA player Jeff Sheppard and former Kentucky women’s basketball player Stacey Sheppard, Reed showed Rockets fans what he had to offer. He played 29:29 of the 40-minute Summer League game. In that time, he scored 23 points, shooting 53 percent from the field and hitting 4 of 6 three-point attempts. He also had four rebounds, five assists, grabbed a steal, and even had three blocks. He also had four turnovers, but considering his overall stats for the game, Houston fans were probably satisfied. Sheppard only spent one season with the Wildcats, where the 19-year-old averaged 12.5 points per game while shooting 53 percent from the field and 52 percent from behind the arc. Back when he declared for the NBA Draft, Sheppard asked Big Blue Nation to follow him along his journey to the NBA, saying he looked forward to continuing to represent Kentucky in the future.