Evan Miyakawa breaks down playmaking analytics of Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins

Mark Pope’s starting backcourt for the 2026-27 season is set. Washington transfer Zoom Diallo and Furman transfer Alex Wilkins have committed and signed with Kentucky — they aren’t coming to Lexington for a spot off the bench, either.

Putting aside the rest of the roster, those two alone should excite the Big Blue Nation. Diallo and Wilkins were both among On3’s top 35 players to enter the portal this offseason. After point guard woes in 2025-26 that were complicated by injuries and an overall lack of ball handling/dribbling, Diallo and Wilkins will shore up those issues from the moment they step on campus. There are — understandably — some outside shooting concerns, but they can do just about everything else on offense at a high level.

Above everything else, though, it’s the passing numbers from Diallo and Wilkins that stand out. For example, the highest assist rate on last season’s Kentucky team was 24.5 percent, which was held by freshman Jasper Johnson. Denzel Aberdeen, who slid into the role of starting point guard out of necessity, posted an assist rate of 20.3 percent. Meanwhile, Diallo and Wilkins posted assist rate numbers of 30.3 percent and 34.7 percent, respectively, last season. Anything over 30 percent is considered among the best of the best.

Evan Miyakawa, the founder of the popular college basketball analytics website EvanMiya.com, used his data to look at the playmaking numbers of Diallo and Wilkins on an even deeper level. In a video he released through his YouTube channel on Friday, Miyakawa dove into his analytics on a handful of the top portal players this offseason. He ended it by discussing the playmaking numbers for Diallo and Wilkins and how they project at Kentucky.

Both Diallo and Wilkins earned A projection grades in assists from Miyakawa. But what stood out was Diallo’s A- playmaking grade, an impressive number for someone who turned the ball over as often as he did last season at Washington.

“It’s worth the amount of risks that he’s taking in the amount of times he’s turning the ball over,” Miyakawa said of Diallo. “Because it’s still more than outweighed by the amount of good that he’s causing by making great passes.”

However, Miyakawa had some concerns with Wilkins’ projected playmaking grade. While Wilkins’ assist grade put him in the 97th percentile, he graded out with an F in turnovers. That drug his playmaking grade down to a B, which still put him in the 81st percentile, but not anywhere close to Diallo, whose A- playmaking grade put him in the 95th percentile.

Miyakawa added that Wilkins ranked outside of the top 400 among all transfers this offseason by his metrics, in large part due to the turnover numbers. He says that Wilkins was one of the bottom three transfers this offseason in terms of turnovers. But Miyakawa added that he believes Wilkins’ turnover numbers will trend in the right direction at Kentucky.

It’s no secret that Wilkins turned the ball over a ton at Furman. He had the ball in his hands more than nearly every single Division I college player last season. Without him, the Paladins don’t even sniff the NCAA Tournament or give UConn a real fight in round one. Wilkins had to do a little bit of everything on offense with teammates who were not as talented as the ones he’ll play with at Kentucky.

You can watch the entire video below to hear Miyakawa’s full thoughts on Diallo, Wilkins, and other top portal additions.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.