FOMO hits Rockets Reed Sheppard's girlfriend Brailey Dizney as she expresses excitement over Kentucky Derby race

Houston Rockets rookie Reed Sheppard's girlfriend, Brailey Dizney, was excited about the 151st Kentucky Derby race on Saturday. Dizney has been actively sharing her excitement, even posting poll stickers on her Instagram story.

It was apparent from her Instagram post that she wanted to attend the race. However, she has her boyfriend playing in the playoffs in his rookie season and she had to make the obvious choice.

On Friday, Dizney reposted a post by @kentuckyderby on her Instagram story and let out her feeling about not being able to attend the race.

"The fomo is real," she wrote in the caption.

[Credit: IG/@braydizney]

In her previous IG Story post, she asked her followers to name the Derby event they were attending from Thurby, Oaks and Derby, or they were enjoying the event on screen.

[Credit: IG/@braydizney]

The Kentucky Derby race will be held at Churchill Downs. The "Run for the Roses" event will award a total of $5 million to the top winners of the race. Last year, the winner took home $3.1 million.

Reed Sheppard and the Houston Rockets secured a 131-116 win against the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Despite being the favorite to win the series, the Rockets were trailing the series by 3-1.

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Reed Sheppard struggles in rookie season but ceiling is high for the Kentucky star

Reed Sheppard's rookie season didn't go as well as he might have expected from himself. As the 2024 NBA draft No. 3 pick, it was always hard to swallow the fact that Ime Udoka played him just over 12 minutes per game through the season.

Sheppard could have had a Rookie of the Year season with his team, but he consistently found it hard to get himself enough time on the floor. Given how the Rockets cruised through the 2024-25 season maintaining the No. 2 seed in the West, it was hard to question Udoka's decision.

Sheppard played only 52 games in his rookie season, including games where he was just warming the bench. In 12.6 minutes, he averaged 4.4 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game and barely found his rhythm. He shot only 35.1% from the field and 33.8% from the 3-point line.

The same continued when the Rockets entered the playoffs. Udoka had Reed Sheppard on the floor in only two of the five games and he played a total of nine minutes. Sheppard is yet to score a point in this playoff series.