Alex Karaban Selected No. 29 Overall by the Kings in Trade-Up with Cavaliers
Alex Karaban was selected 29th overall by the Sacramento Kings via a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night of the NBA Draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Karaban is the first Husky ever selected by the Sacramento Kings, and the second UConn player chosen by this franchise, joining Art Quimby, an 11th-round pick by the Rochester Royals in 1955.
Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. push UConn up to 26 first-round picks in program history, all coming since 1990. They are the 53rd and 54th Huskies drafted all-time and the 10th and 11th in eight seasons with Dan Hurley at the helm.
Karaban joined the Huskies out of IMG Academy, starting all four years in Storrs. He probably could have been drafted around the same point in any of the last two drafts, but chose to finish his degree and play out all four seasons of his eligibility under Dan Hurley. NIL probably helped keep him in college for a little longer, to the immense benefit of the program.
The newest addition to the Kings originally hails from Massachusetts, where he was a standout player since middle school. He played one year at his hometown Algonquin High School before transferring to New Hampton School, where he earned New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a junior. He was at IMG Academy in Florida for a semester before deciding to enroll early at UConn. He committed in August 2021 and enrolled that winter to redshirt for the rest of that year.
Karaban was a key piece of consecutive national championship teams as a freshman and a sophomore, and as a junior led the way for a team that stumbled through league play before a second-round NCAA Tournament exit. As a senior, he led the Huskies to a 34-6 mark and the third championship game appearance of his career. He was one of the Huskies’ leading scorers and one of the top players in the Big East the last two years.
The first-ever player to be named to the Huskies of Honor while he was still on the team, Karaban is the only Husky to ever play in three Final Fours and also holds program records for wins (126), NCAA Tournament wins (18), games started (150), and 3-pointers (292) while finishing his career sixth on the program’s all-time scoring list.
He was a First Team all-league honoree after posting a 46.4/37.4/85.1 percent shooting line as a senior.
Karaban scored a career-high 27 points in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament against UCLA and ended his career with the second-most career tournament wins of any player in college basketball history, tied with Duke’s Bobby Hurley, and is one of three players in NCAA D1 history with career totals of at least: 1,850 points, 750 rebounds, 300 assists, 250 made 3-point field goals, 100 blocks and 100 steals.
UConn is one of three schools in the country to have a first-round NBA Draft pick in each of the last six NBA Drafts, along with Baylor and Duke. The Huskies’ seven total selections in the last three drafts are second-most in the country, as are their 10 total selections in the last five drafts.
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