Arizona basketball’s Caleb Love NBA Draft mixup gets clarification

After a report that Caleb Love of the Arizona basketball program is not on the NBA’s early entry list, it was reported that he “is definitely declaring” and will be fully “going through the draft process” according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.

Caleb Love’s agent, Mark Bartelstein, is talking to the NBA league office now to rectify the oversight, according to Norlander. Love has been training in Chicago ahead of the combine. Arizona submitted the necessary paperwork to maintain Love’s eligibility. Love is open to coming back, and it is said to be 50/50 at this point if he will, according to Norlander.

As of now, Arizona basketball and Tommy Lloyd will not add anyone else in the transfer portal, but if Love stays in the draft, a replacement will be pursued. Either way, Tommy Lloyd should be going into next season with a very talented team.

It will be interesting to see the decision that Love makes, as he is coming off of a strong year after leaving North Carolina for Arizona. It seems to be a good fit for Arizona, and at the very least, going through the draft process will be a good chance for Love to get feedback on what he needs to improve on to make it to the next level, but maybe a team or two tells him that he should go to the draft right now.

If Love comes back, Arizona likely will go into next season as one of the better teams in the country, but Lloyd will have to find a replacement if he does leave.

Caleb Love’s college career

Caleb Love started his college career with North Carolina in the 2020-2021 season, and he averaged 15.2 points per game in his freshman year, according to Sports Reference. In 2021-2022, Love increased his production to 18.6 points per game in his sophomore year, which is when the Tar Heels made the final four.

Love hit one of the most iconic shots in North Carolina basketball history, hitting a three-point shot late in the final four game against hated rival Duke that all but sealed the win in Mike Krzyzewski’s final game as head coach of the Blue Devils. The next season did not go as well, shooting 29.9% from three on a North Carolina team that failed to make the tournament after being the preseason No. 1 team.

That caused Love to transfer after the season, and he initially committed to play for Michigan, was unable to due to academics. That resulted in Love going to Arizona, where he had his best college season, scoring 22.3 points per game, shooting 41.3% from the field and 33.2% from three.

As Love progresses through the draft process, it will be worth monitoring his decision on whether or not to return to Arizona for another year.