Kam Williams is emerging as one of Kentucky's best defenders

One of Kentucky's incoming transfers is making significant strides in practice this summer. Kam Williams, who is coming to Kentucky from Tulane, is known as a 3-and-D wing, but mostly for his impressive shooting ability. Last season with the Green Wave, he shot 48.5 percent overall from the floor as well as 41.2 percent from three-point range.

Heading into his sophomore season at Kentucky, Williams is working to be one of the team's anchors on the defensive end. Mark Pope wanted to really focus on improving defense through the transfer portal this off-season, and Williams is one of the pieces he brought in to do just that. With Kentucky recently completing eight weeks of summer practices, Pope says the 6-8 wing has emerged as one of the best defenders on the team.

"Kam Williams came in here as an elite, elite-level shooter. By the end of the summer, we're like, is he gonna be top defender, our second or third best defender?"Pope said on the Eye on College Basketball Podcast. "He led us in DIM numbers, which is a defensive impact metric for us. He was tied for first in blocked shots. He was fourth in rebounding. He's got a chance. We're really excited about him."

Wiliams is widely known as a scorer first, but his defense shouldn't go unnoticed, as Pope pointed out. Averaging 1.4 steals and1.1 blocks per game, one of his best defensive performances from last season was against Rice, where he posted 3 blocks and 2 steals. Williams had multiple steals and blocks a number of times last season. He'll get to put that on display. NBA scouts have also taken notice of the 6-8 wing's potential at the next level. NBADraft.net in particular even has Williams going sixth overall in their latest 2026 mock draft, proving what Williams could do under the bright lights at Kentucky.

The 6-8 wing is a very underrated transfer, but it's clear that many scouts and analysts see what Pope and the Kentucky staff also see in him. Williams ranks as the 42nd-best transfer according to 247 Sports' rankings. Williams could definitely prove to be much better than many see him, especially considering just how big of an upside he has given he is going into just his second year of college basketball.

Pope knew what he was doing when he picked up Williams to kick of Kentucky's portal cycle. There's no better place for a versatile player like him to showcase his potential than at Kentucky on the biggest stage in the sport.