It looks like there’s more to Tai Wynyard’s absence than just his back injury.
Kyle Tucker from SEC Country confirmed with a UK spokesman that Wynyard has been suspended from the team for a violation of team rules until further notice.
Tucker did make sure to add that Wynyard’s back injury is still serious enough that, even if Wynyard wasn’t suspended, he’d still be unable to play with this issue.
This would explain why Wynyard was previously seen on the UK bench while recovering from his back injury but has been absent from it in recent games.
Whatever the issue is, this brings some uncertainty as to the status of Wynyard with the team going forward. He’s rarely seen the floor in his 2.5 seasons in Lexington.
Now, he’s battling an injury and suspension during a stretch where UK could really use him when other bigs are in foul trouble and Nick Richards is a no-show.
John Calipari sad on Monday he doesn’t expect Wynyard to play again this season due to what’s being called a disc issue in his back. That’s a very tricky injury, especially with big men, so it’s very possible this suspension or lack thereof would have had no impact on Wynyard returning this season.
And with the return of Jarred Vanderbilt, Wynyard earning minutes would have been harder to do going into the NCAA Tournament.
