"IM BACK": KJ Lewis makes his Arizona return for sophomore season known with latest post

After declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft, Arizona guard KJ Lewis has flipped, instead announcing his decision to return to the Wildcats for his sophomore season. He was a key player for the program last season and is a projected top-20 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by ESPN.

KJ Lewis announced his decision via his social media handle with a caption.

"IM BACK," Lewis wrote in his caption.

KJ Lewis announced his decision with a video message for the fans where he thanked everyone in Arizona for supporting him.

"Hey Wildcats! It's KJ here. I just want to say thank you all for the endless support. You know, it's always been a dream to play at Arizona. I want to say thank you to Coach Lloyd and [the] coaching staff. Also my family for the endless support. With that being said- I'm back!," said Lewis in his announcement.

In his freshman season, KJ Lewis averaged 6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game, averaging 18.3 minutes. He was commendable from the field as he made 46.6 percent of his attempts while drilling 34.1 percent of his three-point attempts.

KJ Lewis became the ninth-best freshman for Arizona in steals after securing 38 last season. After declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft, he was invited to the 'G League Elite Camp' for the pre-draft campaign but declined to attend. His refusal came out as a hint of returning which was confirmed on Friday.

Despite not getting much game time, Lewis' potential was identified by Tommy Lloyd, Arizona's head coach, last season. He talked about how Lewis became a key player in close battles by providing something different and a breakthrough off the bench.

"KJ, what's so much fun about coaching him is he solves problems just with effort and energy and cutting," said Lloyd. "When the game maybe gets a little stagnant or you're stuck somewhere, he saved the play so many times. I think KJ helped us in every facet of the game."

In his last season, KJ Lewis was also named Pac-12 Freshman Honorable Mention as he secured double-digits seven times while providing at least 69 assists.

He also led Arizona to winning the Pac-12 regular season championship by scoring a season-high 18 points in the deciding game.

KJ Lewis turned into a great defender last season

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament West Regional-Practice

KJ Lewis turned out to be one of the best defenders for Arizona last season and was praised by coach Lloyd.

"KJ's got amazing instincts defensively, he's got amazing physical tools and reaction time. He's not afraid to take a risk and I don't want to tame him. I'm good with that," said Lloyd.

He's getting more repetitions now, so maybe he has more data in his database to understand 'Okay, maybe this isn't the time to go for that steal' and things like that. That's coming from him learning it, not from me trying to slow him down because he's great," said Lloyd.

In the 2023-24 season, Lewis averaged 2.1 defensive rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

After this return, he will look to improve his skillset and eventually his draft stocks for the 2025 NBA Draft.