Arkansas forward Karter Knox intends to withdraw from the 2025 NBA Draft and return to college basketball for his sophomore season, he announced Monday. Knox’s return figures to be a boon to the Razorbacks’ chances of making noise in Year 2 of the John Calipari era, as he projects as one of the top players on the roster following a rise to the starting lineup in his freshman campaign.
The attention at Arkansas now turns to Adou Thiero, who has a decision of his own to make ahead of the May 28 draft withdrawal deadline. Thiero would be a massive addition to next season’s roster, but if he returns to Arkansas, 2025 would become the first year Calipari did not produce a first-round draft pick since the latter stages of his Memphis tenure. Derrick Rose started that streak in 2008.
Calipari inserted Knox into the starting five in mid-December, but it was not until guard Boogie Fland missed 15 games with a thumb injury that he took his production to another level. Knox’s playing time skyrocketed in Fland’s absence, and he made the most of it, helping spark the team’s midseason turnaround.
Knox, the No. 25 prospect in the 2024 class according to 247Sports, averaged 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and an assist per game as a freshman. He was significantly more vital to the Razorbacks’ success down the stretch, though. He scored in double figures in nine of the final 12 games of the season and closed the year with a 20-point effort in the Sweet 16 overtime loss to Texas Tech.
Knox, who tested well and showcased himself to NBA front offices at the league’s draft combine, represents a crucial bit of continuity for Calipari’s second roster at Arkansas. He joins DJ Wagner, Trevon Brazile and Billy Richmond III as a returning core of role players and starters from Year 1 of the Calipari era.
Calipari complemented the veterans with another star-studded recruiting class. He flexed his talent acquisition muscles when he signed 247Sports’ No. 6-ranked high school recruiting class — which features a pair of five-star prospects in Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas and a four-star combo guard in Isaiah Sealy — and picked up a pair of plug-and-play transfers in Nick Pringle and Malique Ewin.
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