Sahvir Wheeler to enter transfer portal

Mar 27, 2023 - 4:52 PM

After two seasons with the University of Kentucky Wildcats, Sahvir Wheeler has decided to leave the program and enter the transfer portal. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello broke the news Monday afternoon.

The news of his departure comes as very little surprise.

Wheeler was one of the more polarizing players in recent memory, and over the last several weeks, the picture became clear that he would not be coming back.

After leading the conference in assists two years in a row, things just never clicked this year for Wheeler, who appeared in 21 games for UK, starting in just 14.

Injuries, reports of locker-room issues, and the stellar point guard play of Cason Wallace were all factors that played a role in where things ultimately stand today.

As someone who spent time around Sahvir Wheeler during his time in Lexington, I can say that I’ve always respected his unmatched tenacity and ability to forget and simply move on to the next play.

Love him or hate him — Wheeler never showed even the slightest bit of fear or apprehension while on the court. He is who he is as a person and player and doesn’t shy away from that.

All that being said, he’s always struck me as a guy who’s either all in for the cause or all out, but nothing in between.

Around the mid-point of this season, it became evident that something just wasn’t right with Wheeler and what he felt his place was, or should be with this team.

Unfortunately, as time passes, like many Wildcats over the past few seasons, it’ll be difficult to remember Wheeler without associating his name with underachieving teams.

To be honest, as a historic Sahvir Wheeler apologist, I’d always hoped that one of my last posts about him would be some vindicating feel-good piece after cutting down the nets to win a regional or maybe even the whole damn thing.

That’s obviously not how it ended, not even close, and there’s not much else you can say about it.

The Texas native has more than proven his toughness and ability to fill up the stat sheet at the highest level.

For that reason, he’ll always have a place to basketball and at some point should be able to make some good money doing it, even if it’s not in the NBA.

Plus, we’ll always have his destruction of North Carolina.

Best of luck, Sahvir Wheeler.