NBA Draft Scouting Report: UConn Forward Alex Karaban

Scouting two-time UConn champion Alex Karaban.

Dec 21, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; UConn Huskies forward Alex Karaban (11) shoots a free throw against DePaul Blue Demons during the second half at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

UConn’s Alex Karaban has been a necessary piece for the Huskies, originating from the team’s back-to-back championships, and he has the potential to carry all of his winning traits over to an NBA team from the get-go.

He’s a solidly-built combo forward, standing at about 6-foot-8 having measured at 6-6.5 barefoot at the 2024 draft combine, with a confirmed 6-foot-11 wingspan that helps him to play slightly bigger.

He’s very comfortable on the perimeter, though his size and length lends itself to some interior impact on both ends, in moderation.

Karaban doesn’t have an immensely high ceiling, but he’s set to offer needed complimentary skills to an NBA rotation, such as shooting, connective passing and complimentary scoring.

Strengths:

Shooting

Far-and-away the most NBA-ready skill that Karaban will offer NBA teams is his shooting. He’s proven himself to be an elite shooter over the course of his college career, and NBA teams are always looking for players of this size and mold to stretch the floor.

Karaban has shot a career 38% from three at UConn on 640 total attempts, over five per game across 126 games. The mechanics of the shot are funky, and while there have been some ebbs and flows percentage-wise, Karaban clearly has shooting touch and the stats to back it up.

Karaban’s got a high-IQ and great feel for the game, and it bleeds into his shooting via efficient moving and gravitating toward space, balance, preparing to shoot and laser-focus while actually launching.

He’s elite at a standstill, simply catch-and-shooting or in spot-up situations, though he’s not restricted to those. He’s great shooting off-screen, it being his highest play-type for the last two seasons, putting him in rare air at that size.

Karaban is not an exceptional mover, with some real athletic limitations that we’ll get into, though he’s precise with where he wants to go and how he gets there, and doesn’t need much space to get shots off.

Through 15 games as a senior, he’s shooting 48% from three off-screen, 40% from three spotting up, and 38% from three in transition.

For any other areas if improvement we’ll get into later in the video, Karaban’s shooting is unquestionably a skill that would help every NBA team tomorrow, and that’s only likely be aided by even more space and passing versatility at the next level.

Connective Passing

Karaban’s innate feel also carries over into his passing, which given his very defined role at UConn, is a very connective skill.

He’s averaged two assists to one turnover through his career at UConn, most recently blossoming that to 2.3 assists to just 0.9 turnovers. 

He boasts just a 7.4% turnover percentage, a sneakily great skill to have in simply limiting mistakes as a malleable forward.

Karaban’s a lightning-quick ball-mover with good vision and accuracy, as well as an understanding of the flow of offense, never letting it stick with the ability to find open players with real consistency. He’s especially great at leveraging the space created by his shooting gravity, immediately recognizing when he’s created an opportunity for himself, versus others.

Much like the rest of his game, Karaban’s passing isn’t going to jump off the page or scale up past his role, but NBA teams can take solace in his ability to take care of the ball, make correct decisions, and shine in simple ways.

Complimentary Scoring

Karaban’s shooting obviously fits into the “complimentary scoring” category, but we’ll also touch on some other effective offensive areas for Karaban, such as cutting, spot-up driving, transition play and the pick-and-roll.

Karaban’s lesser athleticism doesn’t affect his shooting or passing in totality, but it does rear its head here. Without great lateral movement or explosiveness, he can’t get downhill with real consistency, and being a limited vertical athlete it can also lead to tougher looks around the rim.

Instead, Karaban leverages his shooting ability to create open lanes, or simply waits for the right time to strike off-ball, be it cutting or in transition. 

He’s an elite and deceptive cutter, especially when the defense anticipates him popping out to the 3-point line. He can take advantage of fly-by contests with a simple, albeit serviceable handle. And is even usable as a roller in the pick-and-roll in moderation. He’s a great offensive rebounder at nearly two per game through his senior season.  

Again, the finishing isn’t supremely great once he creates these advantages — 57% at the rim as a junior and 65% so far as a senior — great marks, though NBA size and athleticism are sure to make things tougher. But Karaban does have really nice touch, underrated strength that makes him hard to bump off a spot, and typically won’t force the issue.

Karaban isn’t going to be a prolific scorer inside the arc, but again his ability to capitalize on openings, make winning plays and limit mistakes makes me think this projects to be a plus at the NBA-level.

Areas of Improvement:

Defense

Moving on to areas of improvement, we’ll start with defense, though there’s plenty of middle-ground here for Karaban, similar to his non-shooting offense.

All the athletic concerns carry over here. He just doesn’t have the bend, fluidity or foot speed necessary to really guard quicker or highly-athletic players. He can get bogged down by ball screens pretty easily, and just isn’t able to impact on the perimeter as much as one would like.

The good news regarding Karaban’s defense, and his NBA projection, is that his instinctual style can keep him in position more often than not. His 6-foot-11 wingspan is a major help, and his strength can help him contend with opposing players of a similar size.

He’s blocked 1.4 shots per game here his last 48 games with UConn, pointing to both the ability to put himself in favorable positions, as well as a real sub-skill in ball-tracking.

Despite him not being a hounding point-of-attack player, he’s a disciplined one, rarely making major mistakes and usually understanding what the handlers are trying to do.

Karaban’s defense is certainly an area of improvement in regards to the NBA, though it’s one that could see a solid enough floor in to avoid major concern.

Shot-Creation

Shot-creation isn’t so much of an improvement area for Alex Karaban, moreso just a flaw in his game. He is simply not a shot-creator, nor will he be asked to be in college or the NBA.

He has scored eight points in isolation in four years, it is not UConn’s offensive style, and he just doesn’t have the athletic tools available to create shots for himself.

Karaban is going to be a player that relies heavily on outside forces to create scoring opportunities, despite being pretty elite at maximizing his chances with smart positioning, awareness and more. 

And I say this only because you have to know what you’re getting in Alex Karaban. I’m as averse to putting ceilings on players as they come, but Karaban is simply going to be built to be a role player, albeit one who could potentially star within the confines of that role.

Outlook:

Through four years at UConn, two of which included national championships, Karaban has built a draft case and cemented it: projectable and versatile 3-point shooting, mistake-free play centered around a keen floor game, connective passing, keeping himself in the right spots and capitalizing when granted openings on either end.

There are some athletic limitations that can lead to pause about Karaban’s overall game, but I think we’ve seen lesser athletes carve out niche’s in the NBA, and it wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if Karaban added his name to that list given he’s just a winner.

I could see Karaban’s age, lack of sky-high upside and athletic limitations keeping out of the first round, or even early-second range in such a loaded 2026 class — though there are going to be teams with postseason aspirations that see Karaban’s shooting and team play as an immediate boon to a roster.

Some of the top fits for Karaban include the Lakers, Pistons and Cavaliers.

Range: Early to late-second

Role: Floor-Spacer

Impact: Rotation

Swing Skills: Defense