Anthony Davis Trade Likely to Fan Arkansas vs Kentucky Flames Even More

Anthony Davis, Reed Sheppard, Dallas Mavericks, Arkansas basketball, Kentucky basketball, Arkansas vs Kentucky

PJ Washington has to be feeling pretty good. A few days ago, his Dallas Mavericks picked up a 6-foot-10 superstar in Anthony Davis who will make his life easier in the paint. That’s despite Vegas’ inkling that trading away Luke Doncic essentially cuts the Mavericks’ chances of winning the 2025 world championship in half, according to the latest NBA odds.

On that same Saturday night, Washington’s college coach John Calipari picked up his biggest win of the season so far. 

Washington’s newness to the world of Arkansas Razorbacks fandom very much struck a nerve amongst Kentucky basketball fans, who caterwauled about his supposed turncoating when a photo of him wearing a Hogs shirt surfaced a few months ago in Fayetteville. He was simply wearing the shirt in honor of his old coach who’s pitched his tent in northwest Arkansas. 

Over the weekend, Reed Sheppard did it again. Oops. The former Kentucky basketball star rocked the same exact shirt before his Houston Rockets played the Brooklyn Nets.

If that wasn’t bad enough for Kentucky fans, the Arkansas sports department used that same photo in their own chest-beating after Arkansas’ 10-point road win over the No. 12 Wildcats. 

The Hogs-Cats rivalry is indeed alive and well.

Consider What Anthony Davis in Fayetteville Will Do

Had Kentucky beaten Arkansas on Saturday, mouthing aplenty would have come from UK’s faithful. They were already more than happy to badmouth their former coach, John Calipari, after his surprising exit out of Lexington in the spring. Many felt dissatisfied with the way the Wildcats had played in recent years under Cal’s watch. But with the Hall of Famer besting his former team with an underachieving Arkansas one, Big Blue Nation appears livid.

And we are done. Not nearly as big a clown show as I’ve heard, even on the post-midnight editions. But Reed Sheppard may want to be smuggled in under cover of darkness the next time he goes home. Good luck Reed!

Will Work 4 SunDrop (@chrisdepew.bsky.social) 2025-02-02T06:52:03.728Z

The Razorbacks’ season exists as a disappointment even after Saturday’s victory. Arkansas is hardly sniffing an NCAA Tournament bid at the midway point of Southeastern Conference play. But the hiring of Calipari was never all about what the Hogs could accomplish in year one. Foolish to think Arkansas automatically posed itself as a national-championship contender with a roster built entirely with newcomers (save lone holdover Trevon Brazile). What Calipari brings to the Razorbacks is an air of legitimacy.

So do the guys like Washington and Sheppard who are in part swapping their blue-and-white for red-and-white. Expect Big Blue Nation to lose it when Davis joins them soon enough. 

Davis’ new Dallas digs means he is but a one-hour flight away from visiting his beloved college coach. Combine that with the fact his new teammates include Washington and Arkansas native Daniel Gafford, a Razorback star under Mike Andreson, and the safe bet here is that he will visit Fayetteville with one or both of them at some point.

That may even happen this summer after the Mavericks win the NBA title this year (shush; let me dream) now that they have sent the defensive liability that is Luka Doncic packing for Los Angeles. If Washington, who is a good player, but not a superstar, drew such ire from Kentucky after his visit to campus last year, imagine what wrath Davis will incur from those who formerly loved him.

Rooting For a Team Over a Person Is Insane

All of it is silly, of course, feeling so intense about a team that one would demean and degrade another for so-called abandonment. Sane humans root more for people than dreams. Sheppard put it best when he was asked about his shirt choice.

“A lot of people are not happy, but that’s my coach,” he said.

More importantly, he said he thought it would be funny. It is funny. Funny in a sad way that anyone cares. Sheppard may now have more friends in Fayetteville now than Lexington, considering Calipari brought nearly his entire coaching staff with him from Lexington, not to mention Sheppard’s former teammates in Adou Thiero, Zvonimir Ivisic and DJ Wagner. Why should the Rockets guard not root for Arkansas aside when it plays Kentucky? Because of the one year he spent playing in Rupp Arena? Because his dad played there? Nonsense.

Davis, a four-time All-NBA selection, is the crown jewel of the Calipari’s deep roster of talent harnessed at Kentucky. The Chicago native, after all, anchored the only Calipari-era UK team to win a national title. He remains one of the 15 best players in the NBA – a league more college and high-school players watch than their own collegiate ranks. Potential recruits to the Razorbacks would take notice if he made a trip to Fayetteville in the offseason and sported Hogs duds. As a 10-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, he may become the most accomplished professional player ever seen in Arkansas gear.

And you had better believe he’ll be seen. Arkansas’ athletic communications would make sure of it, just like they did with Sheppard and Washington.

Arkansas Deserves To Spin It Right Now

Maximizing eyeballs is really what it’s all about, anyway. Calipari changed the college game with one-and-dones like Davis, making junior- and senior-laden teams something of a relic when it came to deep NCAA Tournament runs. Now, the best teams are often those with older players who were good elsewhere before becoming elite at their new place. And the teams with the most seasoned players stand the best chance of winning championships. 

Loyalty is for the birds, anyway. As disappointing as some may find it that they don’t really get to know their favorite team’s players before they up and leave for another school, “knowing” the players had become harder, regardless, in the past 20 years as those SID staffs made access to them almost impossible for the media. Besides, even when those players – think Devo Davis – stay, fans will turn on them at the drop of a hat, often for no real reason at all other than a perceived slight.

Kentucky basketball folks are seething. But don’t worry. Before long, Razorback fans will again be back at it for some reason, too. High emotions create drama and drama sparks intensity in rivalries. Those are good for the game, not juggernauts. Big Blue Nation sure had its moment in the sun for a good decade-plus under Calipari. For a couple months, it hoped that the drop off to Mark Pope wouldn’t be too steep. And maybe Kentucky bounces back to keep its elite status. But the one game Arkansas needed to win, it won.

It’s only right that the swapping out of blue for red, and a “W” for “L” on its homecourt, take Kentucky down a couple notches again.

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