Give credit to John Calipari; he’s never one to shy away from throwing immense praise behind his players. This especially stands true when they make the leap to the NBA. The former Kentucky and current Arkansas Razorbacks coach has been a regular attendee at the NBA draft over the years, and this offseason, he was openly supporting the likes of Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas.
Although Acuff was selected No. 7 overall by the Sacramento Kings, Calipari’s recent comments on SiriusXM NBA Radio sound as though he believes the former Razorbacks guard, as well as Thomas, weren’t selected as high as they should have been. Unsurprisingly, Calipari made that clear by sending a message to the NBA teams that passed on the duo.
“Tyrese Maxey and Immanuel Quickley were similar to Darius [Acuff] and Meleek [Thomas]. You get mad, like, ‘what are you people looking at? Do you understand how good these guys are?'” Calipari said. “…Here, we get knocked out in the Sweet 16 and people didn’t get the full gist of what Darius was and Darius was a little hurt, and what Meleek was. And now, they’re saying, ‘Oh, how did people pass on Meleek?’ Well, I’ll tell you there are people that passed on Darius too.”
“Tyrese Maxey and Immanuel Quickly were similar to [Darius Acuff] and [Maleek Thomas]”
Arkansas head coach John Calipari tells @WorldWideWob, @DarthAmin, and Ryan McDonough why teams will regret passing on Acuff and Thomas in the draft.
Full interview:https://t.co/jnEcXNELrspic.twitter.com/MVzQOWlKH2
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) July 12, 2026
Calipari did go on to state that he’s happy for both Acuff and Thomas because they “landed where people wanted them.” He also said Kings owner Vivek Ranadive called him about Acuff, and Calipari said he’d have to trade up. Fortunately for the Kings, it worked out, as they were able to land the explosive guard at No. 7 overall.
Acuff wrapped up his lone collegiate season with Arkansas by posting marks of 23.5 points on 48.4% shooting and 44.0% from three-point range. He also added 6.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds over 35.1 minutes per game.
As for Thomas, he also played one season for the Razorbacks, averaging 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Thomas was consistent from beyond the arc, knocking down 41.6% of his attempts. The 19-year-old guard slid to the early part of the second round, coming off the board at No. 34 overall and ultimately landing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: John Calipari calls out NBA teams for passing on Acuff, Thomas: ‘What are you looking at?’
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