LEXINGTON, Ky. — Take note, NBA executives: There is some debate about how old Jacob Toppin really was when he arrived at Kentucky in the summer of 2020 as a sophomore transfer from Rhode Island. Sure, his birth certificate says he was 20. But Wildcats coach John Calipari estimates he was more like 13. Teammate Lance Ware laughs at that notion and goes even lower.
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“He started off at, like, 8 years old,” Ware says. “He was 13 last year. Now he’s, like, 16 or 17. He still has his moments.”
The point is, and everyone agrees on this, Toppin was quite immature back then, but these days his practical age is much closer to his actual age — he turned 22 in May — heading into an all-important senior season at Kentucky. Thanks to that tremendous growth, Toppin has transformed from a career role player into a starter, maybe even breakout star, for a loaded team with national championship dreams. He’s turned himself into a legitimate pro prospect in the process, which has not always been particularly pleasant.
“When I first came on campus, I got yelled at every day,” Toppin says. “Because I was always the laughing guy. I was always the goofy guy trying to crack jokes. Cal has gotten on my behind because of that and, honestly, I appreciate him for that. Because not only did that make me a better basketball player, but that made me a better person. Being mature goes a long way in life, and I realize that now. This offseason taught me that. Going through the pre-draft process, working out with my brother, working out with other guys in the draft, it showed me how much it’s going to take to get to that next level. Being mature is one of the big pieces of that. I had to lock into that mentality.”
His physical tools have never been in question. Toppin’s father, Obadiah, is the New York City playground legend known as Dunker’s Delight. His older brother, Obi, was the consensus national player of the year in 2020, a top-10 pick and NBA Slam Dunk champion. Jacob was blessed with similar raw materials. At Kentucky’s pro day last month, he measured just shy of 6-foot-9 in shoes with a 6-11 wingspan and a 45-inch vertical, with the fastest sprint time and second-largest hands on the team. Those are the kinds of numbers, along with about five pounds of added muscle and a more chiseled physique, that get NBA scouts’ attention.
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“Jacob is a really good story,” says one scout who has been tracking Toppin as a prospect since last year. “To go from not much of anything expected of him to what he is now is really impressive. There were some people in the league I talked to last year who said, ‘I think Toppin is a pro,’ and back then my reaction was, ‘I do not.’ But, man, he’s come a long, long way. His shot is developing. He uses his athleticism. He runs the court. He’s turning into a player. And it’s really big that he’s self-aware enough to say, ‘I was immature and needed to change.’
“Most guys would say it’s Cal’s fault or somebody else’s fault, that they weren’t used the right way or whatever. That’s pretty big on his part to say, no, it’s on me to take the coaching.”
Senior Jacob Toppin: 🔓 unlocked 🔓 pic.twitter.com/luR86GiHxf
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) August 26, 2022
That was the thing Calipari could not know for sure when he took a flier on Toppin after he averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds as a freshman at Rhode Island. The kid was long and bouncy like Obi, but did he have the intangibles to put all those pieces together the same way? Reducing someone like Obi to the term “late bloomer” really sells him short, dismisses all of the work required to coax forth that flower. Obi had no Division I offers after high school, did a prep year that earned him a spot at Dayton, where he redshirted his first season, and was 21 before he finally became a full-blown college star.
“It motivates me a lot,” Jacob says, “because to see what he’s done and see what I’m doing, we’re kind of on the same trajectory. But at the end of the day, everyone has their own path. I’m going to follow my path, and hopefully we get to the same spot.”
The elite measurables and a handful of highlight-reel plays last season — a 360-degree dunk at Auburn, an impossible-looking, chin-at-the-rim chasedown block in the SEC tournament — have piqued the NBA’s interest in Toppin. Now it’ll take consistent production to keep it. He averaged a modest 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds and started only six total games in his first two seasons with the Wildcats, which is why it might seem strange to suggest Kentucky’s success is heavily tied to his. Alas:
“He’s the person I think can really change us this year,” says returning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe. “He is right now our best player. He’s unstoppable.”
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Tshiebwe might yet have something to say about that whole “best player” thing when he returns from a minor procedure on his right knee that has kept him out for the last few weeks, but everything we’ve seen from Toppin since last season supports the notion of him becoming a breakout star. He averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 blocks in four exhibition games in the Bahamas. He went for 21 points, six boards, three assists and two blocks in Kentucky’s final preseason exhibition game last week. Then he opened the regular season with his first career double-double on Monday: 15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 32-point rout of Howard without three of the top seven Cats: Tshiebwe, starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler (knee) and forward Daimion Collins (bereavement).
“He’s more of a leader,” Tshiebwe says of Toppin. “And he talks. If he sees a problem, he doesn’t just let it go; he says something right then.”
Add that to the list of ways he has grown. Calipari asked Toppin to take charge this season, to step forward and be a guy from whom his teammates take their cues. But how do you quantify something like that? It just so happens, Kentucky recently purchased a Noah Basketball shot-tracking system — so named because “Noah built the perfect arc” — that is used by most of the NBA. It provides real-time data and analytics to help players refine their jumpers, but Calipari has been most impressed by a simpler stat the system spits out.
“It counts the number of shots they take” on their own time, Calipari says, “and Jacob leads the team. He had 2,800 shots in three weeks. He’s living in the gym. Every player that I’ve ever coached that lives in the gym had breakthroughs.”
To his point: In eight live-action appearances since last season, from the Bahamas through preseason and the opener, Toppin has made 51.1 percent of his shots and 45.8 percent of his 3-point attempts (11 of 24). In the first three years of his college career, he’d hit only 27.6 percent (21 of 76) from beyond the arc. Even if he settles in somewhere closer to 35 percent for this season, Toppin would have a great chance of hearing his name called in the 2023 NBA Draft.
“I think he’s got a chance to have a really good year,” says one NBA scout who watched him at UK’s pro day, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly by their team. “He’s surpassed my expectations of him, what I thought of him last year. When he falls in love with that midrange, that doesn’t appeal to the NBA. But if he can make some 3s, yeah, that’s interesting. Because he does everything else, so if he can make 3s, that would be big for him.”
His brother’s team, the New York Knicks, uses the Noah system — which means his brother’s teammate and former Kentucky star Immanuel Quickley’s shooting data is also logged there. Toppin said he talks to Quickley often and compares Noah notes.
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“He’s a really good shooter, so his numbers are definitely better than mine, but it gives me some perspective on what I can do to better my skill set,” Toppin says. He puts himself through workouts full of the kinds of shots that he can make and Calipari wants him to take in games. He usually gets in a couple hundred extra shots, outside of practice and mandated workouts, every day. “Just understanding where I’m at in my life, just understanding how close I am to my ultimate goal, I decided to start putting in the work. Because I know if I continue to put in the work, if I stay consistent and disciplined in my work, it’ll all be good for me in the end.”
This spring was a revelation in that regard. He declared for the 2022 NBA Draft, planning all along to return to school. The goal was to gauge just how far away the dream really was. He traveled to Los Angeles to work with his brother, engaging in daily one-on-one battles with Obi.
“He definitely doesn’t have the upper hand anymore,” Toppin says. “I’m just a lot faster than him. So, to be honest, I just go by him, pull up, do whatever. He’s still stronger, though. He’s the older brother, so he always thinks every call has to go his way. I wasn’t going for it. We definitely didn’t fight, but we got into an argument.”
But after training with and competing against Obi and draft prospects Jaden Ivey and AJ Griffin — who were selected No. 5 and No. 16, respectively, in June — then working out for a handful of NBA teams, Toppin and his brother agreed on one thing: His next-level dream is real. So he returned to Lexington with renewed focus.
“Obi told me I can do this,” Jacob says. “The feedback I got was just to get bigger, stronger, be able to finish through contact, make open shots when I need to. Once the season ended, I came right back here and watched a lot of film and took a lot of feedback on what I need to work on. We sat down and established what I need to work on, and since the end of last season, I’ve been in the gym working on those things.”
So how high can he go?
“His ceiling is whatever he wants it to be,” says assistant coach Orlando Antigua, “Jacob is so unique, because he could actually be the best defender in the country and his game is just evolving. We’re going to keep challenging him.”
John Calipari wants Jacob Toppin to be more aggressive and not settle for jump shots this season. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images)Calipari has cautioned Toppin not to get too cute in an effort to show off his improved perimeter skills. He scolds Toppin any time he sees him shooting “foot-kickers,” the off-balance, turnaround fadeaway jumpers that remain a hard habit to quit. He has encouraged Toppin, with his bulked-up body, to embrace more “car crashes” in the paint.
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“You create the car crash. You’re not getting T-boned. You’re T-boning that dude,” Calipari says. “When he does that, what happens? He plays really good, but what else? Gets hurt and grabs his shoulder, his knee, all that. So he’s got to get through all that to say: Yes, I’m shooting the ball better, I’m handling it better, I’m more confident, but I’m not just playing on the perimeter; I’m going to drive this thing and be in some car crashes.”
Toppin shot one of his foot-kickers in the opener against Howard, missed it badly, and got blasted by Calipari during the ensuing timeout. Toppin said this summer that he can hear his coach going berserk over those shots even before he sees him, and he knows it’s time to tighten up. After that brief relapse and a reaming on Monday night, he refocused and played great the rest of the game.
“He’s matured,” Calipari says. “I’m proud of him. I get on him now. I’m holding him to a high standard because … why not be that guy? Why settle for jumpers? Or, ‘I can make a 3 now.’ So? Go be that other guy that dominates.”
It remains a work in progress. Toppin is, after all, still just a teenager in his coach and teammates’ eyes. But he’s getting there. He’s at least old enough to be trusted to drive the family car.
“Jacob’s ready,” Ware says. “We came in here at the same time, and seeing him develop his game, I’m nothing but happy and proud of him. Seeing how he changed his whole mindset and how he locked in and just really focused on his craft — good things happen to good people. He definitely deserves everything he’s going to get, because I expect him to have a huge season and I’m really happy for him.”
One of the last and hardest steps in growing up is establishing an identity — an authentic sense of self — and staying true to that, come what may. But that’s the part on which Toppin feels like he actually had a head start. He swears all of this new attention and expectation and possibility for his future will not change him. In which case, he might be even further along than anyone realized.
“Since Day 1, I’ve always known who I am as a player,” he says. “That’s a hustle player who can guard anyone, one through five, who’s going to talk, who’s going to be gritty and grab rebounds and do all the little things. If I’m worried about that stuff, the offense is going to come. I was never one to be greedy. I was never one to take shots I shouldn’t take. If I worry about trying to reach the expectations of others, it’s not going to go well for me. So I kind of just focus on what I can do every day to get better and that’s what is helping along this way. Obviously I’m due for a breakout, but that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried today about how I can get through today’s practice.”
(Illustration: Samuel Richardson / The Athletic; Photos: Jeff Moreland and Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
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