Kilpatrick Carves Out His Spot In Brooklyn

SK gives a stank face in his Brooklyn pajamas during his big performance over Detroit. (nba.com)

Don’t look now, but Sean Kilpatrick seems to have found himself a home in Brooklyn.

The former Bearcat signed a multi-year deal with the Nets in March, three days before unloading a career-high 25 points. While the contract was huge news, the NBA is fickle and a deal doesn’t necessarily guarantee a permanent roster spot or playing time. However, SK seems to have squeezed every ounce out of his shot and it’s hard to see the Nets letting him go anywhere now.

In last night’s impressive win over the Detroit Pistons, Kilpatrick peeled off arguably the best game of his career, scoring 24 points to go with 10 rebounds and three assists. He shot 8-for-13 from the field, including 4-for-4 from outside. It was his first NBA double-double. (He had four at UC.) Perhaps most importantly, he got 28 minutes. Brooklyn isn’t playoff bound, and they’ll likely have a tough year, but SK is becoming a major piece of their operation.

In five games this season, he’s averaging 16.6 points and just over four rebounds. He’s also getting 25 minutes per game. Without a great deal of talent ahead of him on the roster, if he can continue to turn in games like last night, we should see that grow. Kilpatrick hasn’t started a game in his NBA career, but his first one feels imminent at this point.

(Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images)

Kilpatrick is earning a fully-guaranteed $980,000 this season. If he isn’t cut by June 30, he’ll make $1.05M in 2017–18. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2018.

All this for a kid that went to prep school, redshirted at UC, and worked his ass off to become the second-leading scorer in program history before going un-drafted and grinding it out in the NBA Development League. The road to this point has been long and uphill for Sean Kilpatrick, but he’s found himself a nice spot down the street from his childhood home in Yonkers.

I couldn’t be happier for him.