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By Larry Vaught

Contributing columnist

While some UK basketball fans have worried about the extent of Aaron Bradshaw’s foot injury and when he would be ready to play this season or even if he would play, it has also been a stressful few months for the 7-0 freshman.

He missed summer workouts and didn’t play in Canada when UK won four games in July.

“It’s been hell, I’m not gonna lie. Just overcoming a lot of things,” Bradshaw said on the “Behind Kentucky Basketball” podcast with former UK player Cameron Mills.

Bradshaw hurt his foot at the McDonald’s All-American Game in March but did not opt to have the surgery until June after initially hoping the injury would heal on its own. Bradshaw told Mills having surgery was the best decision to make sure he could play this season and said he was “not really” concerned about the injury.

“That’s just a little setback, that’s just a little bump in the road. If I dwell on that and keep saying, ‘Oh, I’m hurt,’ you’re never going to go anywhere,’” Bradshaw said. “It’s a part of the game. Everybody gets hurt. (Michael) Jordan went through the flu. Bron (James) got his ankle (injury). Everybody goes through something. I can’t get mad or frustrated that it happened to me.”

But he certainly made it clear to Mills that he did get frustrated at times waiting for the injury to heal.

“I had points in time where I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I could do that.’ But it happened to me. So I have to do everything I can to get right,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw sees himself as almost a 7-foot point forward who can handle the ball, hit 3-pointers or go inside if needed. However, he told Mills his priority is to get better daily.

That’s my main thing, my main goal now. It wasn’t like that before, high school wasn’t like that. I was just worried about getting it done and getting out of there,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw was being projected as a 2024 first-round NBA Draft pick and likely will be again as soon as it’s obvious the injury has healed.