Florida losing forward Alex Fudge to NBA draft
After just one year with the Florida Gators, forward Alex Fudge is leaving the college ranks and entering his name into the 2023 NBA draft pool as he pursues a professional career.
Swamp247’s Jacob Rudner first reported the news Thursday night at the tail end of the football team’s Orange and Blue Game, and Fudge’s departure caught plenty of fans off guard. That might not be the case for those who pay close attention to the team’s transfer portal movement, though.
Florida is in the process of replacing all but five members of its scholarship roster from a season ago, and there’s been a heavy focus on frontcourt depth. Todd Golden and Co. have already secured center Micah Handlogten and forward EJ Jarvis through the portal, but they have continued to schedule official visits with big men that would not have found much playing time with Fudge on the roster.
While it’s unclear whether Golden knew that Fudge was seriously considering leaving or not, he’s been putting together a plan to deal with another lost player from the 2022-23 team.
Fudge started just 11 games for Florida during the middle of the season before going down with a concussion. By the time he got healthy again, Golden had switched to a small ball lineup with Riley Kugel and Will Richard starting at the three and four.
The LSU transfer finished his only year at Florida averaging 5.8 points and 4.5 rebounds in 19.4 minutes per game.
Florida has four scholarship spots open now that Fudge is off the roster.
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