When Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic entered the transfer portal, it sent a major shockwave across the college basketball landscape, as he’s now widely regarded as one of the best players available, if not the outright No. 1 player in the portal.
Well, technically he’s available, but Momcilovic is testing the 2026 NBA Draft waters and is believed to be strongly leaning toward staying in. However, ESPN has him down at 44th overall in their rankings, so it’s far from a lock that he’d go in the first
round.
That, and it’s no secret that some players claim they’re strongly leaning toward staying in the draft to get better NIL offers.
This season, Momcilovic averaged 16.9 points on 50.6% shooting (48.7% on 7.5 3-point attempts per game), 3.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and knocked down an NCAA-high 136 triples. He went for 20 points on 6/12 shooting (4/9 from deep) in the Cyclones NCAA Tournament win over the Kentucky Wildcats. He’s the best shooter in America, and he looks like someone who should have a long NBA career, regardless of whether it begins this year or in 2027.
If Momcilovic can’t get a team to bite on him in Round 1 this year, then you have to think a return to college basketball and offers around $4-5 million will be hard to pass up on.
But is Kentucky even in the mix for Momcilovic? CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter seems to think so.
In Trotter’s ranking of the top 100 transfer portal prospects — which has the Iowa State standout ranked No. 2 overall — he listed Kentucky among the teams expected to be in the mix if Momcilovic pulls out of the draft.
“Momcilovic has his sights set on the NBA Draft, but if he returns to college basketball, he is a plug-and-play difference-maker for anybody because he has an elite trait. Florida, Kentucky and Kansas will be in the mix if this recruitment opens up,” Trotter wrote.
Florida has been widely viewed as a serious contender for Momcilovic, but there’s a growing belief that the Gators could get four of their five starters back from a season ago, including frontcourt members Rueben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh, to join Boogie Fland and Alex Condon, leaving the Gators with only a guard to replace. That would almost certainly take them out for Momcilovic, who primarily plays the 3 and occasionally the 4 spots.
Then there’s Kansas, who is going to be ponying up big money to get Tyran Stokes after Kentucky made things interesting for a few days but is now expected to miss out on the No. 1 overall high school recruit. That may take the Jayhawks out of the running for a player who’s likely getting at least $4 million, and that’s before bidding wars start. It’s not out of the question to see him command over $5 million.
For context, Flory Bidunga, the top-ranked transfer, is leaving Kansas and reportedly getting $5 million to play for Louisville, so you have to think Momcilovic will be asking for at least close to that number.
Of course, Kentucky could also fill up its roster before Momcilovic is ready to make his stay-go decision, but so far, it’s been a challenging portal season for the Wildcats, as they’ve only brought in Washington point guard Zoom Diallo as of this writing.
There’s a real chance they’ll sign some cheaper players to fill out the roster and have some in the reserves if Momcilovic or another big name emerges in May/June. Plus, you have to think UK boosters would find some extra money to spend on an elite prospect like Momcilovic.
Ideally, Kentucky will land some impact players in the coming days and weeks to fill out the roster, but if not, then Momcilovic may very well be someone worth making a serious run at.
One thing is for sure: It’s nice to have options.
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