Arizona's Pelle Larsson Showing Growth in the NBA

Throughout his coaching career, Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd has brought in international talent dating back to his days as the top assistant coach with Gonzaga. Now, with the Wildcats, Lloyd is doing much of the same and keeping the overseas pipeline streaming into Tucson.

An example of this is the team’s incoming recruiting class, which ranks No. 1 nationally with seven total recruits. Out of the seven, three are international prospects from different parts of the globe showing the reach Lloyd has when it comes to recruiting.

Over the years in Tucson, Lloyd has had many international players that have developed and became major pieces to the program.

One player transferred into Arizona from a former Pac-12 foe and that was forward Pelle Larsson, who left Utah for the Wildcats and spent three seasons with the program becoming a solid defender and high basketball I.Q. player.

During his time in college, Larsson averaged 9.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 2.8 APG while shooting 49% from the field and 39% from beyond the arc. He was able to earn All-Pac-12 honors and won Sixth Man of the Year for the conference during the 2022 season.

In his first season in the NBA, Larsson saw some time in the G League but played in 55 games for the Miami Heat and started in eight of those games.

When given the opportunity, Larsson recorded 14.2 minutes per game and was able to average 4.6 PPG, 1.7 RPG and 1.2 APGwhile shooting 43% from the field.

His career-high came against the Wizards where he scored 16 points in 27 minutes on the court. Larsson went 6 of 11 from the field while collecting four rebounds and five assists finishing with a 13 (+/-) on the night.

This summer, Larsson is playing in the Summer League looking to get more reps and develop his skills ahead of the 2025-26 season as his role seems to be growing with the Heat.

So far, Larsson has played in one of the two games for the Heat and scored 18 points while going 3 of 7 from the field. He was able to collect nine rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes on the court.

Larsson still has development to do, but he is clearly moving in the right direction and it seems that the Heat might’ve gotten a steal from Arizona.

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