Tommy Lloyd's Arizona Wildcats have suffered a handful of key losses already this offseason, losing both Kylan Boswell and Oumar Ballo to the transfer portal, and both Caleb Love and Keshad Johnson to the NBA Draft. And now, the fifth Wildcat starter from the 2023-24 squad, Pelle Larsson, who last season was among the leaders in the Pac-12 in both assists per game and three-point percentage, has announced that he too will be taking his talents to the NBA Draft.

Pelle Larsson is 23 years old, and played two years in the Swedish Pro League, starting as a 16-year-old, before coming to the United States to first play college ball for the Utah Utes. After one season in Salt Lake City, Larsson transferred to Arizona, where as a member of the Wildcats he earned Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year as a Sophomore and eventually developed into a reliable starter for solid Arizona squads. Ezra Amacher of SB Nation notes that Larsson is the only player in the country with at least 1,200 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists, 100 steals while shooting 49% from the floor and 39% from the 3-point line over the previous four seasons.

All due respect to Jonathan Givony, who is the expert on this subject, as well as The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor, who has Larsson going 44th in his latest NBA Mock Draft, but I don't see how a player of Larsson's stature falls that far in what is considered by most to be a relatively weak draft class. Given Larsson's size, his shooting ability, his potential as a secondary playmaker within an offense, and his willingness to compete as hard as he does on the defensive end of the floor, I think there will be at least one team that falls in love with Larsson's skillset and snags him somewhere between 25 and 35. There's a reason KOC compares Larsson to Desmond Bane and Grayson Allen. If those comps are indeed accurate, getting Larsson in the mid-40s would be an absolute steal.

Larsson took to Instagram to make the announcement official:

“These past years have been some of the best of my life. Tucson, and the McKale Center, will always have a special place in my heart. I am extremely grateful to Tommy Lloyd for bringing me to Arizona to play with incredible teammates and win championships. I am proud to call myself a Wildcat for life. With that being said, I have decided to enter my name in the 2024 NBA Draft.”