Kentucky's TyTy Washington Jr. Declares for 2022 NBA Draft, Will Hire Agent

Kentucky freshman TyTy Washington Jr. is entering for the 2022 NBA draft. 

Speaking to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Washington said he will hire an agent as he takes the next step in his basketball career. 

Washington hopes to showcase his skills to teams during the predraft process after an ankle injury limited him over the final two months of the college season. 

"I wasn't anywhere close to full strength in the past two months of the season," Washington told ESPN's Jonathan Givony (h/t Wojnarowski). "My ankle had moments where it felt really good and then others it was really hurting. After the Auburn game, that's when things went downhill. It was a nagging injury that I never really got right. I'm still not 100% now, but I'm getting close."

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman had Washington ranked as the No. 9 prospect on his most recent big board in February. He had the 6'3" guard going to the Washington Wizards in his mock draft published on March 29. 

Expectations were high for Washington coming out of Compass Prep High School last year. He was rated as a 5-star prospect and No. 15 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class, per 24ySports composite rankings. 

Washington originally committed to Creighton, but he decided to re-open his recruiting after Bluejays head coach Greg McDermott made a comment about needing "everyone to stay on the plantation" during a postgame speech to his team after a February 2021 loss to Xavier.

"It was definitely the controversy," Washington told The Athletic's Kyle Tucker in April 2021 about decommitting from Creighton. 

Washington announced in May he was going to play for the University of Kentucky. The Arizona native was averaging 14.2 points, 4.6 assists per game and was shooting 40.4 percent from three-point range in 18 games prior to spraining his ankle on Jan. 22. 

From Jan. 29 through the end of the season, Washington's scoring average fell to 10.8 points per game on 36.2 percent shooting in 12 games. 

Washington had just five points on 2-of-10 shooting in Kentucky's 85-79 loss to Saint Peter's in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament. 

A healthy Washington has tremendous upside in the 2022 draft. His rough finish this season shouldn't diminish what he's capable of doing at full strength.