Arizona Wildcats Big Man Lands With Emerging NBA Team in Recent Mock Draft
The Arizona Wildcats look to have one of the most talented teams in men’s college basketball for the 2024-25 season.
Tommy Lloyd has a strong backcourt led by Caleb Love, KJ Lewis and Jaden Bradley. The frontcourt was upgraded in the offseason with Trey Townsend and Tobe Awaka transferring into the program from the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and Tennessee Volunteers.
On the wing, Anthony Dell’Orso from the Campbell Fighting Camels will help offset some of the departures. The team lost Ky Boswell and Oumar Bello to the Illinois Fighting Illini and Indiana Hoosiers in the transfer portal, while Keshad Johnson graduated and Pelle Larsson went to the NBA.
It will take a total team effort to replace the production that has been lost, but Lloyd and his staff did a wonderful job of bringing in talent. Freshman Carter Bryant has an incredibly bright future, as he leads the way of potential NBA players.
Joining him in that regard is center Motiejus Krivas.
The main backup to Bello last season, the Lithuanian product averaged 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in only 12.1 minutes per game. At the start of this season, he has been brought along slowly as he works his way back from an ankle injury.
Krivas is playing 11 minutes per game but making his presence felt. He is scoring 7.6 points with 5.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks. Projected by many to be a breakout performer this year, it is easy to see why.
The upside is undeniable, as he has a lot of tools to succeed on the court. It also projects well for his future, as Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have him safely inside the first round of their recent NBA mock draft over at ESPN.
With the No. 18 overall pick, they have the Orlando Magic landing the talented big man.
“While it's too early to say much about the Magic's direction, they could consider adding frontcourt depth in Krivas. The Lithuanian center has played spot minutes early on in the Wildcats' season coming off of an ankle injury, but Arizona will ramp him back up toward extended action as its schedule gets tougher.
Matchups against Wisconsin (Friday) and Duke (Nov. 22 on ESPN2) will tell us much more about where things stand, but Krivas has excellent size (7-2, 260 pounds) and a strong motor that could make him -- once he gets back to full strength -- one of the more productive bigs in college basketball.”
The Wildcats are going to be in the national spotlight a ton during the campaign. In addition to the huge non-conference games Woo mentioned, the Big 12 is loaded with championship-caliber teams, making for exciting games all season.
If Krivas can play at a high level against that kind of competition, NBA teams are going to line up to try and land him in the draft.
