An unlikely leader has emerged on this UK basketball team. ‘Everybody looks to Lamont.’

One of the best things about this Kentucky basketball team so far, according to the players themselves, is the collective willingness to listen.

Ask around to see if any early leaders have emerged among this brand-new roster of Wildcats, and you might hear several names in response. Mark Pope has encouraged an environment of open dialogue, the UK players say, and everyone is taking advantage.

But when these Cats do mention specific names in response to questions about leadership, one has popped up on every player’s list.

From the freshmen to the seniors to the coaches themselves, everybody is loving what Lamont Butler has brought to the program.

When discussing the methods UK’s coaches used when putting together this 2024-25 roster from scratch — 12 scholarship players that have never played for the Wildcats — Pope said at a Club Blue NIL event last month that there were certain intangibles they looked for beyond pure basketball skill.

The only player he mentioned by name during that segment of the conversation was Butler.

“He is a winner, winner, winner,” Pope said. “He’s done it on the biggest stage. And he cares about winning more than he cares about personal stats. He wants to lead. When we talk about intangibles, that’s something that he’s bringing.”

Butler — a 6-foot-2 guard from Moreno Valley, California — spent the first four years of his college career at San Diego State, and he did plenty of winning there. The Aztecs compiled a 108-23 record over those four seasons. Butler played in all 131 of those games, starting 102 of them, and he was integral in helping the team advance to the 2023 NCAA title game, hitting a buzzer-beater in the Final Four against FAU to send the Aztecs to the national finals.

His offensive stats have never jumped off the page — 9.3 points and 3.0 assists per game and just a 30.2% 3-point shooter last season — but Butler was a crucial part of all that winning, and he was often graded as one of the best defensive players on one of the best defensive teams in the country.

Last season, in fact, he was named the Mountain West defensive player of the year.

But even with all that success, Butler never really considered himself a leader. Not a vocal one, at least. Yet every member of this UK program mentions him prominently — often before anyone else — when asked who’s been stepping up in that regard early on.

“I’m trying. I’m trying, man,” Butler said. “You know, being a vocal leader is not natural for me. I’m kind of like a lead by example type of guy. Just go out there, play hard, do the right stuff. So being a vocal leader is kind of tough, but I know that this team is kind of looking at me to be one of the leaders. So I think stepping up as a voice every day is going to be big for us.

“Also, being a point guard — you know, guys in the NBA, those are the guys that’s always talking. You see Ja Morant, Chris Paul, guys like that — very vocal. So I want to learn that.”

Jaxson Robinson is another player that teammates point to as someone to lean on in these summer practice sessions. That makes sense. Robinson, who played two years under Pope at BYU and led the Cougars in scoring last season, is the only Wildcat with any prior experience with the head coach. He knows the system. He knows the lingo. And he even looks to Butler.

“He’s kind of like me,” Robinson said. “He’s not very talkative outside the court. He’s a quiet kid, also, but he’s been doing a really good job of just trying to step into that leader role. Knowing that he’s the point guard, he’s the floor general. So, everybody looks to Lamont. Even myself. So I’m just trying to help him as fast as I can, and he’s been trying to help me in different areas. It’s been great playing with him.”

With just one season of college eligibility remaining, Butler said this offseason that he didn’t feel like there was much more to prove by returning to San Diego State for a fifth year, and he relished a new and different challenge.

Coming to Kentucky — and playing for Pope, specifically — the 22-year-old saw an opportunity to show more of his game. The Aztecs aren’t known for a run-and-gun offense — they’re perennially graded as one of the slowest-tempo teams in the sport — but Pope has promised to play fast this season, and his recent results have proven he’s willing to do it.

With dreams of one day playing in the NBA, this should provide Butler with an opportunity to show off a different aspect of his game. And on the biggest stage imaginable, no less.

“I mean, it’s easy to sell Kentucky basketball,” Butler said of the recruiting process. “His main thing was just about me having the opportunity to go live out my dreams, and that’s playing in the NBA. And he felt that the way he plays — and the way that Kentucky basketball is viewed — that I’ll have the best chance to do that here. And I believe him. I believe in everything that he was saying. And I’m excited and honored to be here, for sure. …

“Offensively, just a lot more freedom. We play a fast-pace kind of offense, and I didn’t play that at San Diego State. It was kind of slower. It’s more space in here and stuff like that. So just having the opportunity to do that, I think is just gonna open up my game a lot more.”

Pope has matched him up with another veteran point guard, Kerr Kriisa — a previous starter at both Arizona and West Virginia — and Butler said the two playmakers are getting along well on and off the court.

Robinson — a 6-6 guard — said Pope has also tasked him with running some point this season.

“Just picking their brains, figuring out what they see out there, it’s been great,” he said. “And, you know, Coach Pope went out and got the guys that he wanted to get and that he thought would fit the system, and Kerr Kriisa and Lamont Butler are a perfect fit.”

Butler couldn’t stop smiling while talking about the possibilities Tuesday afternoon. He’s enamored with all of the outside shooting on this team. He loves the pace at which Pope wants the Cats to play. And he’s found plenty of open ears around him.

“I think Coach Pope does a great job of giving us freedom to go out there and talk to each other,” Butler said. “He wants us to be a player-led team to where we’re leading each other. And guys have been very receptive to leadership, especially the younger guys. I give them credit for that. They’ve accepted the things that we’re saying. And also us being a veteran group — people understand what the goal is, what the assignment is. So, you know, it’s never personal. We’re just all trying to get better and help each other.”

The assignment, of course, is one that Pope has been talking about since his introductory press conference in Rupp Arena three months ago — a ninth national championship for UK’s program.

Pope has never won an NCAA Tournament game as a head coach. The Cats have won only once in March Madness in the past five years. But Butler has been to the sport’s brightest stage once before.

In his last shot at college glory, he hopes to get there once more.

“When I got recruited, I heard about it. And then when we met as a team, that was the main thing for us. So right now, we’re just trying to take it one day at a time. We don’t win the national championship in March or April. We win it now in practice. So we’re trying to remember to create winning habits. And take it from there. …

“My goal is to impact winning, and I’m just going to continue to instill that into our team. We’re going to go out there and try our hardest and try to win. We understand the assignment. We want to get number nine, so we’re going to go at it with winning habits every day.”

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