Kentucky Reportedly Reaching Out to Creighton Transfer Arthur Kaluma

Kaluma is withdrawing from the NBA draft and will seek out a new destination after two seasons at Creighton.

Just before it became official that former National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe was keeping his name in the NBA draft, ending his two-year tenure at Kentucky, a new name emerged in the transfer portal. 

ESPN's Jeff Borzello reported that former Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma is withdrawing from the draft and return to college via the transfer portal, and Kentucky is one of a few schools already mentioned to be "in pursuit."

NEWS: Former Creighton forward Arthur Kaluma is withdrawing from the NBA draft and returning to college, sources told ESPN. He's now arguably the best available frontcourt transfer - with Alabama, Texas, Texas Tech, Kentucky among those in pursuit. Story: https://t.co/rFoMUwNzur

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) May 31, 2023

Standing 6-foot-8, Kaluma was originally headed to UNLV before a coaching change led to his arrival in Omaha as a 4-star recruit out of Dream City Christian in Glendale, Ariz.

In his two seasons as a Blue Jay, he played 68 games, averaging 11.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists. He shot 43.3 percent from the floor, 29.1 percent from 3-point range and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. He helped Creighton reach the Elite Eight this past season. 

He will have two years of eligibility remaining. With Kentucky now without 20.8 percent of its points and 32.6 percent of its rebounds from a season ago just via the loss of Tshiebwe, Kaluma is an option that head coach John Calipari and his staff will likely try and go all in on.

Alabama, Texas and Texas Tech were other teams mentioned as interested by Borzello.

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