A Potential Replacement for Thomas Haugh Emerges for the Gators

Florida Gators forward Thomas Haugh has yet to decide where he will play basketball next season. He has another year available to him in Gainesville, but is considered a 15-to-20 prospect in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Luckily for Florida, there is a talented replacement in the transfer portal whom it could target for next season’s roster in Iowa State’s Milan Momcilovic, should Haugh depart. The Cyclone forward is tabbed as a top-five transfer, ranking as the No. 2 overall transfer by 247 Sports.

Momcilovic is statistically the best shooter college basketball has to offer. He is a 6-foot-8, 225-pound sharpshooter who averaged 16.9 points per game on 50.6/48.6/87.8 shooting splits. His 48.6 3-point percentage led the country this past season, and he also had the most 3-pointers, connecting on 136 in total.

Replacement might not be the best way to describe Momcilovic, though, given the two are not exactly like-for-like players.

Haugh is the high motor, do-it-all type of player. He defends at a high level, can pass the ball well for his position, extends his shooting to behind the 3-point line and can finish inside.

Conversely, Momcilovic is really only a knockdown shooter from deep. He doesn’t provide the same tier of rebounding or defending that Haugh does.

Defense may not be the end-all, be-all for Golden, though. He has already paired Boogie Fland with Denzel Aberdeen in the backcourt. He is also working to retain Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu in the frontcourt. That is four high-level defenders, should Aberdeen receive another year of eligibility from the NCAA, which means the Gators could use Momcilovic's elite shooting.

The Pewaukee, Wisc., native's shooting is something the Gators desperately missed last year. Outside of Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown, no other Gators shot 34 percent from deep on at least 50 attempts.

Another reason Momcilovic is a realistic target for Florida is that he is going through the NBA Draft process. With that being the case, the timeline for both Haugh and Momcilovic will be similar, allowing the Gators to fill the remaining hole in the starting lineup without worrying about it until the final moments of the offseason.

There have been murmurs in recent weeks on social media that the Gators are the early favorites to land his services. And, while that may be true, his final decision will likely hinge on what Condon or Haugh decides for their future. If only one leaves, then the Gators could turn up the heat. But if both stay, it is hard to envision him swapping red and yellow for orange and blue.

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