He’s likely to return to Wildcats after getting feedback
Though he never started a game during his freshman season, it was easy to see that KJ Lewis has the skill set to make it in the NBA. And he’s ready to see how close he is to achieving that goal.
Lewis announced Monday he was declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft, though he left open the ability to return to college by not hiring an agent. He has until May 29 to withdraw or remain in the draft.
The 6-foot-4 Lewis averaged 6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 18.3 minutes per game in 2023-24, appearing in all 36 contests. He shot 46.6 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from 3-point range and 79.2 percent from the line, and his 38 steals tied for ninth-best by a freshman in school history.
Lewis scored a career-high 18 points in the Pac-12 regular-season title-clinching win at UCLA on March 7, and a week later had 15 in the Pac-12 Tournament win over USC. Those were two of his seven games scoring 10 or more.
Pelle Larsson went through the NBA Draft evaluation process last spring before returning to the UA for a third season (and is back in the draft for good this year), and Lewis is likely to do the same unless he gets an indication he’ll be picked. Lewis was on some mock draft boards early in the season but is not currently projected to go in June’s draft.