Cal Basketball: Injured Andre Kelly Has Not Decided Yet on A Plan for Next Season

The senior post player has the option of returning to college for a fifth season.

Andre Kelly, who is sidelined for the remainder of this Cal basketball season after injuring his ankle last month, apparently still has not made a decision about whether to return for a fifth season in 2022-23.

Coach Mark Fox said he has had conversations with Kelly about the topic but is giving the senior forward time to sort out his thoughts.

“I think Andre wants to find out what the professional people think his options are,” Fox said this week. “Andre and I have had a tremendous relationship. We sat for nearly an hour on the road and talked, and right now the focus is simply trying to get healthy.”

Andre Kelly before a recent game at Haas Pavilion / Photo by Darren Yamashita, USA Today

Kelly suffered the injury Jan. 29 in Cal’s 79-72 loss at USC and has not played since. Declared out for the season, he will miss his sixth straight game Thursday night when the Bears face Colorado at Haas Pavilion.

Fox said Kelly still has swelling and continues to use crutches.

“He’s still a little bit emotional ‘cause this has been hard for him,” Fox said. “But as the days and weeks pass, we’ll continue to talk and he’ll figure out what’s best for him.”

Fox said he doesn’t anticipate Kelly making a decision until sometime shortly after the season ends. Kelly has not been made available for interviews since his injury.

Undersized for a low-post player at 6-foot-8, Kelly is not regarded as an NBA prospect but could find a place to play professionally overseas.

The Stockton native was averaging 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds, both career bests, when he went down. He was shooting 61 percent from the field, also best of his career.

Under normal circumstances, because he has played 21 games, Kelly’s eligibility clock would run out at the end of this season. He has played 113 games in four seasons for the Bears, scoring 1,014 points with 657 rebounds.

But players were given an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA because of disruptions to the 2020-21 season caused by the COVID-19. So Kelly has the option of playing a fifth season next year.

If Kelly were to remain at Cal, he would anchor a team that also expects to return starting guards Joel Brown and Jalen Celestine, along with sometimes-starters Lars Thiemann, Kuany Kuany and Jarred Hyder and current freshmen Sam Alajiki, Marsalis Roberson and Obinna Anwanyu.

Among the Bears’ incoming prospects next season is center/forward ND Okafor, a 6-foot-9 native of Ireland who plays at the NBA Latin America Academy in Mexico.

Cover photo of Andre Kelly dunking at USC by Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo