John Calipari made waves in the transfer portal Monday afternoon, morphing a former Kentucky opponent – another Wildcat himself – into the newest addition to the squad.

Davidson graduate transfer Kellan Grady announced his commitment to Kentucky through a UK press release at 4:35 p.m. E.T. today. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 17.1 points per game as a senior in 2020-21, his lowest amount over his Davidson career. He put up 18.0 PPG as a freshman, 17.4 PPG as a sophomore and 17.3 PPG his junior year. 

“First, I want to express my eternal gratitude for Davidson College, Coach McKillop and his entire staff for giving me the opportunity to represent Davidson for the last four years,” Grady said in the press release. “It has truly been an incredible experience and has made me a better player — and more importantly, a better person.” 

“With that said, I’m very excited to be a Wildcat again and play for Coach Calipari at the University of Kentucky,” he continued. “It is a tremendous opportunity to compete at the highest level and pursue my dreams. I’m grateful for the opportunity and eager to get to work.”

Grady totaled 2,002 points in his four years at Davidson, becoming the sixth player in school history to eclipse the 2,000 point plateau on Mar. 18. He received a congratulatory tweet from alum Stephen Curry shortly after reaching the mark.

Hailing from Boston, Grady was an all Atlantic-10 selection all four of his seasons at Davidson, including two as a First-Team A-10 member. He connected on a career-high 38.2% of his three-pointers last year.

“Kellan has established himself as one of the best players in the country,” Coach Cal said in the press release. “His size, his skills, his scoring ability and his playmaking ability speak volumes to the player that he is. Kellan played in a great program under a terrific coach, Bob McKillop. He is a four-year starter whose toughness and fight will add to our team.”

“His game-to-game consistency – his scoring, his ability to share the ball and his defense – is part of what makes him special… we are ecstatic to have him join a team that was close last season but needed what he gives us to get over to the top.”

This is the fourth straight offseason where Cal and staff have dipped their toes into the transfer pool. They added Reid Travis from Stanford in 2018-19, Bucknell star Nate Sestina in 2019-20 and Creighton guard Davion Mintz last campaign.

Grady will help make up for the losses of B.J. Boston and Terrence Clarke, who entered the NBA Draft earlier this offseason. He has experience playing against Kentucky; he scored 16 points versus Calipari and Co. in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament when Kentucky and Davidson faced off in Boise, Idaho. UK defeated Grady’s bunch 78-73.