Report: Arizona pursuing transfer Milan Momcilovic with Koa Peat expected to depart
Replacing Koa Peat with Milan Momcilovic would give the Arizona Wildcats a completely different look on offense.
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Koa Peat has until the end of Wednesday to determine whether he’ll keep his name in the 2026 NBA Draft and leave Arizona, but there are signs the Wildcats are preparing for a post-Peat era to begin.
The latest sign is that Arizona is recruiting Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, according to The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman, who added Tommy Lloyd’s team joins St. John’s, Kentucky and Louisville in the race to land the elite shooter.
“The fourth team right now that is trying to gain some ground, per my sources, is Arizona,” Goodman said on The Field of 68: After Dark.
“A big part of that … is because they believe they’re going to lose Koa Peat. Koa Peat leaves, obviously, that clears a lot of cap room for Arizona. I think it also gives them a guy who fits. Talk about an extreme contrast of players.”
The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Momcilovic averaged 16.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game for the Cyclones last season and has been a double-digit scorer all three years in Ames, Iowa.
He put together shooting splits last season that were by far career bests: 50.6% overall, nearly 8% better than his previous best, and 48.7% from 3-point range, which is 9% better than his best before last year. All of that is despite a career-high volume of 11.1 attempts per game and 7.5 from deep.
Momcilovic has gone through the draft process like Peat, but he pulled out of a workout with the New York Knicks that was scheduled for Monday, Goodman reports.
He is viewed as a second-round pick according to the front office personnel that Goodman has spoken to, while Peat is viewed still as a first-rounder despite declining stock.
That’s because Peat’s jumper has been highly scrutinized through the draft combine and a private workout with NBA evaluators.
Should Momcilovic join the Wildcats, Arizona’s potential starting lineup would look like so:
Potential Arizona men’s basketball starting lineup
PG: Derek Dixon (North Carolina transfer)
SG: Caleb Holt (5-star recruit)
SF: Ivan Kharchenkov (returnee)
PF: Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State transfer)
C: Motiejus Krivas (returnee)
Bench:
G: Bryce James (returnee), Cameron Holmes (4-star recruit), JJ Mandaquit (Washington transfer),
F: Ugnius Jarusevicius (Nebraska transfer), Endurance Aiyamenkhue (Netherlands)
C: Evan Otten (Idaho State transfer), Mabil Mawut (returnee)
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Comments
3 Comments
The Story this morning is that the UofPay's interest in Milan MomCilovic was actually not interest, but instead complete hype from his agent. Sports Illustrated is reporting that Tommy Lloyd & Co. have no real interest in Milan, which makes total sense. Last year Iowa State played the UofPay twice last year and both times Milan got embarrassed, as in the UofPay totally shut him down. There were similar stories about Kentucky and Louisville being interested in the last 24 hours, which have also been attributed to more hype from his agent. The $7 Million price tag was a big enough impediment, but when teams look at Milan's tape, his stock drops even more. The only team currently desperate enough to overpay, to give Milan $7 Million, is Iowa State, who, right now, is actively recruiting him to return. Bottom-line, there is little if any chance Milan comes to the UofPay.
Koa Peat had a disastrous Combine that highlighted major issues he has with shooting the 3. Those issues pushed him down towards the bottom and possibly out of the 1st Rd altogether. Draftees at the bottom of the draft typically are offered contracts in the $2.8 - $3.1 Range which is significantly below the $3-5 Million Peat could get in NIL money from some place like the UofPay. Today is the deadline for Peat to withdraw from the draft.
All signs are that he's going to withdraw and will return to the UofPay.
Aw, how cute, DC's back, commenting on U of A, who live rent free in his Devil's head. Sadly, his UofPay moniker has lost it's relevance, as every school pays their players . . . Thanks for the "Captain Obvious" statement about the fan base liking Peat, but (sadly) he's gone-off to the NBA. The kid from Iowa State would be a good pick-up, but a very different style than Peat.
Sports Illustrated is claiming Momcilovic's is looking for $7 Million as a starting figure. Having watched his highlight video, I would give him a hard HELL NO. Signing him would only demonstrate that Tommy Lloyd has lost his mind. I'm assuming that makes this article total clickbait, which is unfortunately something that happens a lot with Kevin Zimmerman articles.
Google is saying that Koa Peat would command between $3-5 Million. His tape and the fact that the UofPay fanbase already knows and loves him, would make bringing Peat back seem like a total non-brainer.