Pelle Larsson 2024 NBA Draft Profile
We are less than two weeks away from the 2024 NBA Draft. Today, we are going to be looking at Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, a very good glue guy and one of the best shooters the Pac-12 had to offer. Let’s dive into it!
Height: 6’5.25″ (6’7.50″ wingspan, 8’6.00″ standing reach)
Weight: 212.4 lbs
Age: 23.3
Position: Big Guard
The Swedish guard was a top-130 recruit in the 2020 recruiting class, though he played overseas with RIG Lulea and BC Lulea. He was the Swedish Basketball League’s Star of the Year in his final season.
With Sweden during the FIBA U18 European Championships, he averaged 15.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.8 steals while leading the tournament in field goal percentage (61.1 percent) and assists–getting named to the All-Tournament team.
According to 247Sports, he only had two offers from Utah and San Francisco. He chose Utah, where he spent one season under Larry Krystkowiak before transferring to Arizona after the head coach was let go following the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
He transferred in-conference to Arizona, where he won the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year award in 2021-22 and eventually earned All-Pac-12 honors last season. He was the only player in the country to total 1,200 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals while shooting at least 49 percent from the floor and 39 percent from 3-point range over his four-year career (2020-24).
Let’s dive into a few of his strengths and weaknesses, shall we?
Strengths:
Arizona was filled with talent–including the likes of Azuolas Tubelis (one season), Kerr Kriisa (one season) Caleb Love (one season), Oumar Ballo and Kylan Boswell–over Larsson’s last two seasons. So he wasn’t utilized much on-ball.
Though he was still a very capable glue guy, he was a good movement shooter and knocked down 39.5 percent of his 2.7 3-point attempts per game (36.7 3PAr) over his last two seasons, including 42.6 percent of his triples as a senior.
Even when his shot wasn’t always falling, he generated enough gravity offensively for his teammates and moved well without the ball. He was good at re-locating off misses and making himself available off the perimeter with a loaded shot base. His shooting helped leverage the rest of his game, where he could attack closeouts and operated perfectly as a secondary ball-handler within Arizona’s offense.
When the ball was in his hands trying to create, Larsson was a good decision-maker who didn’t force too much and seemingly always played within the flow of the offense. He played primarily off-ball and led his team in assists with a near-2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Larsson possesses enough size to see over other guards and showed he was capable of making several different types of passes.
The 6-foot-6 guard showed he was capable of defending multiple positions defensively and making winning plays on that end of the floor. He was strong at the point-of-attack and didn’t forgo position easily very often.
Weaknesses:
I thought he was under-utilized in college, so one worry I have about him is not having enough on-ball reps to provide a consistent impact as a creator in an NBA rotation.
That’s not a fault to him, and he may not be relied upon to create a ton right away at the NBA level. He’s capable, but the lack of consistent reps could work against him–depending on the team context.
Larsson will also likely need to improve his foot speed to be a net-neutral defender at the NBA level. He can hold his own, but I fear he could be a player who’s hunted by other wings to start his NBA career when he’s on the floor.
Projection: Early Second Round Pick
Larsson’s skillset as a secondary/tertiary ballhandler is intriguing, especially because of his shooting prowess. He played his role exceptionally well at Arizona and I think he could do the same at the NBA level off the bench–even if he starts at the G-League. I’m bought into his floor.
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