On June 25 during the 2015 NBA Draft, possibly somewhere around the sixth and 10th pick, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will head to the podium at the Barclays Center in Brookyln, New York with the name of one of seven Kentucky Wildcats that decided to make the jump to the next level. That name will likely be Willie Cauley-Stein or as he now would like to be called, Willie Trill Cauley-Stein.
According to Hannah Schellar of Kentucky.com, the seven-footer officially had his named changed with Trill now becoming his middle name:
Cauley-Stein, 21, was born Willie Durmond Cauley Jr. He filed a name-change order Friday with the Probate Division of the Fayette District Court to legally change his name to Willie Trill Cauley-Stein.
Apparently, the Kentucky product made the change to include his mother’s last name, but also wanted to include something extra for his middle name, via Schellar:
Cauley-Stein’s mother, Marlene Stein, said her son decided to change his middle name since he was already there to change his last name.
Trill is the “nickname his ‘boys’ call him,” Marlene Stein said.
Although Cauley-Stein has been praised as one of the best defensive players in college basketball last season, Karl-Anthony Towns has been dubbed the better all-around NBA prospect out of Kentucky. Towns is expected to be taken with the number overall pick on June 25.
Cauley-Stein will likely be a lottery pick in June’s draft with most predicting he’ll be taken in the top 10. According to MyNBADraft.com, Cauley-Stein will head to the Denver Nuggets with the seventh overall pick.
If the Los Angeles Lakers fall to the fifth overall pick, Cauley-Stein might be a player they seriously consider. All indications point to the Lakers favoring Justise Winslow out of Duke if they end up with the fifth pick, but that could change depending on the impression Cauley-Stein makes in pre-draft workouts with the team.
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