LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fifteen years after John Wall last wore Kentucky blue and white in a game, his lasting impact on the UK men’s basketball program was on display this week on the social media platform now known as “X.”

Wall announced Tuesday that he was formally retiring from professional basketball at age 34. In the aftermath of the announcement, it was striking how many of the players who followed Wall’s path to UK went on social media to express how much the point guard had meant to them.

“The reason I wanted to go to UK. ... Hell of a career killa,” Julius Randle tweeted to Wall.

Archie Goodwin wrote “S/O to @JohnWall on retirement. A great career and an amazing inspiration to a lot of us out here.”

Karl-Anthony Towns tweeted to Wall “A Wildcat GOAT! Enjoy retirement brother!”

Even though Wall only played one season, 2009-10, for Kentucky, there is a case that the Raleigh, N.C., product is the most consequential UK men’s hooper of the 21st Century to date.

When Wall signed on with John Calipari prior to the coach’s first season leading the Wildcats, the “Kentucky brand” had gone stale. Immediately before Wall’s arrival, UK had not advanced out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in four seasons. The nation’s elite high school hoops players no longer routinely matriculated at the University of Kentucky.

In one dazzling season, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Wall changed all that. A hit from the start, Wall launched a dance craze in his sole Big Blue Madness appearance. He then hit the game-winning shot to beat Miami (Ohio), 72-70, in his first contest in the Kentucky uniform.

With Wall running the point for a team that also featured fellow star freshmen DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe, UK — which had lost a combined 52 games in the four seasons prior to Wall’s arrival — went 35-3 in 2009-10.

Wall’s Cats won the SEC regular season and tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of eight. A consensus First Team All-American, Wall averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals in his sole college season.

Wall’s biggest impact on UK basketball, however, was that he “made it cool” for other elite players to come to Kentucky. What Jamal Mashburn was to UK basketball in the final decade of the 20th Century, John Wall was to the second decade of the 21st Century.

The combination of Wall’s on-the-court performance and his lasting impact is why his No. 11 jersey should be elevated to the rafters at Rupp.

What was a meritorious pro career for Wall was shortened by leg injuries. His affect on the NBA was also lessened by spending the first nine years of his 11-season career toiling for the middling Washington Wizards franchise.

Still, Wall appeared in the NBA All-Star Game five times. In 2016-17, he was chosen Third Team All-NBA. He won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 2014.

Now, Wall is transitioning into his post-playing career as a studio analyst for the “NBA on Prime.” He will make in-studio appearances on Amazon Prime's NBA coverage alongside other hoops notables such as Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Candace Parker and Udonis Haslem.

UK Athletics has an institutional policy that governs the retired jersey process that applies across all its sports.

Before an individual is eligible for retired jersey consideration at Kentucky, one must first be elected to the UK Athletics Hall of Fame. Those choices are made by a committee consisting of media members, previous Hall of Famers, campus representatives, current coaches and other athletics department personnel.

Five years after being elected to the UK Hall of Fame, an individual then becomes eligible for jersey retirement. A separate committee from the one that makes the Hall of Fame choices handles those deliberations.

Wall was inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017, meaning he is now eligible for jersey retirement.

There are those who oppose on principle the idea of retiring Kentucky jerseys for one-and-done players. It says here that it doesn’t matter how long a player played for the Wildcats, it matters what they achieved in the UK uniform.

In my view, Wall is one of four Calipari-era players — Anthony Davis, Tyler Ulis and Oscar Tshiebwe are the others — who deserve jersey retirement based solely on their accomplishments while playing for the Wildcats.

(There’s a separate argument over jersey retirement for one-and-done players who were “good” at UK but went on to become transcendent stars in the NBA. I am in favor of Kentucky raising jerseys in honor of players such as Devin Booker and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, too, but that’s a different argument for a another day).

With Calipari now serving as boss Hog at Arkansas, honoring Wall with a retired jersey would reinforce to the ex-Wildcats players from that era that they are still valued and welcomed in the commonwealth.

Mostly, it would justly honor a player who had a unique and significant impact on Kentucky basketball.

No reason to “dance” around it. It’s time for UK to get John Wall’s jersey into the Rupp Arena rafters.

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