Willie Cauley-Stein was once a First Team All-American and Defensive Player of the Year with two Final Fours in three seasons at Kentucky. His journey from four-star project to No. 6 overall draft pick is one of John Calipari’s early success stories in Lexington, the 7-footer among the most beloved Wildcats to come through in recent memory.
Now, he’s coming back to Rupp Arena for another run in blue and white, this time with La Familia for The Basketball Tournament in July. He’ll be joining a roster that includes Eric Bledsoe, Doron Lamb and Reid Travis, among other soon-to-be-named participants.
It’s an experience he’s been waiting a long time for after spending nearly a decade (and counting) in the pros.
“The opportunity to be back and play in that building ten years later, it’s kind of surreal,” Cauley-Stein said of joining La Familia. “It’s a blessing.”
The former Wildcat star was with the Sacramento Kings from 2015-19, then the Golden State Warriors from 2019-20 before final stints with the Dallas Mavericks (2020-22) and Philadelphia 76ers (2022). Since then, he played one season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the G-League, then in Italy for Openjobmetis Varese (2023-24).
That’s resulted in over $26 million in career earnings — every cent he’d be willing to give back if it meant reliving his time at Kentucky again.
“I say it all the time, I would give my whole earnings that I made in the NBA to go back and do that s*** all over again,” he said.
That may not be possible, but suiting up for La Familia is a close second. And he’s excited to feel those same emotions in front of Big Blue Nation again this summer.
That will include some fan-specific events that will allow him to connect with his first basketball home before the fame and fortune.
“That’s where it all started. It’s actually hard to put it into words what it’s like playing there,” Cauley-Stein said. “I haven’t been back in a while, got some plans, little autograph tours, golf events I want to put on in the two weeks I was there. I want to get out in the city and see, soak up that energy again. It’s one of a kind.”
Cauley-Stein rolled through some of his favorite memories as a Wildcat, namely his first Big Blue Madness and the blue carpet rolled out for the program’s past legends — “It was just so loud, dude.” Then when Kentucky went 31-0 during the 2014-15 season, closing out a perfect regular season. Then his SEC Tournament title, winning MVP. The list goes on and on.
One of the fans’ top moments during his time in blue and white? Sending Montrezl Harrell into the stands on a steal and breakaway dunk against Louisville.
He’ll get to take on Harrell once again when La Familia takes on The Ville — the Cards’ TBT squad, one that has also added Russ Smith and Peyton Siva.
“Bro, what? Russ and Peyton in their time were crazy. Then you old Montrezl as an older guy? They’ve got a squad. That’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be a good matchup,” he said. “… The rivalry in general with Louisville and UK, the way people get involved with that is amazing. As players, we just respect each other. … It’s gonna be cool, I haven’t played against (Harrell) since 2018, 2019. It’ll be cool to step back between those lines and play hard against one another again, kinda like how we did back in the day.
“The fans will definitely have a show.”
We know of four former Cats set to participate, but who else could join the fold? And maybe more importantly, who would Cauley-Stein like to play with?
Anybody who was in the trenches with John Calipari and this fishbowl of a Kentucky basketball program.
“I don’t even know, anybody. Shoot, just the chance to play with anybody you didn’t get to play with,” he said. “We all took runs at it, we all left our own personal legend there. That’s going to follow anybody that comes back. It doesn’t really matter who it is, we’re going to gel and have a good time, just relishing in that moment.”
And how about his relationship with Coach Cal, who will almost certainly be in the stands cheering his former players on this summer? That’s something special in its own right.
“I always like to say about Coach Cal is how diligent he was about teaching us real-life things, real-life situations. Everybody wants to hear about getting cursed out or crazy things he said, but that’s just normal coach stuff. With real life, people don’t expect him to be telling us those things,” Cauley-Stein said of his time with Calipari. “I don’t know how many meetings we had about domestic violence, preventing it, how to prevent it. Police officers come in and tell us how to deal with situations if it ever comes up. Those are the things that stuck with my heart, the financial stuff he taught us.
“It’s bigger than basketball man, that’s why they call it La Familia. It’s a fraternity once you go there, a family. When you go and spend your time there, put your work in at UK, he’s there for you for life after. If you run into a problem after you leave there, he’ll be there to give you some sort of advice or put you in a position to start working your way back up to succeed. I always appreciated that from him.”
TBT comes to Rupp Arena from July 19-24. Get ready to see Willie Trill himself.
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