Andrija Jelavic hasn’t joined the Kentucky basketball team. Here’s the reason
Kentucky’s eight-week summer practice session is more than halfway complete, and highly touted international recruit Andrija Jelavic still isn’t in Lexington.
That’s not cause for concern in UK basketball circles.
During a midsummer press conference Monday afternoon, Kentucky coach Mark Pope addressed Jelavic’s absence by accentuating the optimistic.
“The status right now is that we got transcripts,” Pope said. “He just finished classes, which is awesome. So we have transcripts, and so that part of this process is complete. And now it’s going through the rest of it. I’m hoping that he’d be on campus here — I don’t know if it’s optimistic … you know, I’d love for him to be here tomorrow.”
That won’t be happening, but the versatile forward is indeed expected to arrive in town soon.
Jelavic, who committed to the Cats in April, is a 6-foot-11 prospect from Croatia — with a 7-2 wingspan — capable of playing on the perimeter, a seemingly ideal fit for Pope’s offensive system.
He’s played the past two years for a Serbia-based professional team in the AdmiralBet ABA League — more commonly known as the Adriatic League — and averaged 11.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game this past season, shooting 32.1% from 3-point range.
Obviously, Jelavic’s late arrival has led to some consternation in some UK fan circles.
It’s been 15 years since the Enes Kanter saga was the offseason story of Kentucky’s 2010-11 campaign. Kanter was ultimately ruled ineligible to play college basketball by the NCAA, which concluded that the highly touted recruit received compensation during his time with a Turkish professional team that exceeded the limit to retain his amateur status.
That UK team ended up advancing to the Final Four — the first such trip during coach John Calipari’s tenure — while the future NBA lottery pick watched from the sidelines.
More recently, the drawn-out process that preceded Zvonimir Ivisic’s college debut consumed the attention around the 2023-24 team, which was Calipari’s final season as head coach.
Ivisic, like Jelavic, was a native of Croatia who played in the Adriatic League before committing to Kentucky.
His case, still fresh in the minds of UK fans, stretched out for months.
First, Ivisic was delayed admission to the university, finally being granted approval to enroll in early October, well after the start of the fall semester and just a week before Big Blue Madness.
Once he arrived on campus, Ivisic battled illness and minor injury, and his ability to play in games was further delayed by an NCAA inquiry into his amateur status, an investigation that stretched into SEC play before he was finally allowed to make his UK debut on Jan. 20 in Rupp Arena.
The prolonged process to get him cleared affected Ivisic’s ability to fully integrate his game with the rest of the 2023-24 roster, and he played sparingly down the stretch for that Wildcats team.
UK officials are expecting Jelavic’s process to be completely free from such drama.
The Herald-Leader was explicitly told over the weekend that this situation will not unfold like Ivisic’s did two years ago. So, why the delayed arrival for Jelavic?
The 21-year-old’s season in the Adriatic League ended in the middle of May, but completion of his academic coursework extended into late June, not completely wrapping up until after UK had already started its eight-week summer practice session.
Though UK officials had preliminary paperwork to confirm that Jelavic was indeed on track to be eligible to play in America during the 2025-26 season, the university could not receive and process his official transcripts and other information related to his student-athlete status until after his academic calendar was complete. That’s standard procedure in such cases.
Even in the best of scenarios, Jelavic would not have been able to arrive in Lexington until around this time — too late to enroll in summer classes — and he would not have been permitted to immediately join the team’s offseason practice session, which is already in its sixth week.
Upon his arrival, Jelavic will have to undergo standard medical testing to make sure he’s fit to physically take part in team workouts — with no underlying conditions or other injuries — and that process typically lasts a week or so.
Even though he last played games overseas in May, there would also likely be a ramp-up process to get acclimated here. By the time Jelavic got through all of that, the team’s practice session would be in its final days (or possibly even already finished).
Pope also acknowledged Monday that Jelavic would not be able to fully practice with the team while not enrolled in summer classes, due to standards related to first-time international students.
So, when it was clear that Jelavic’s academic timetable wouldn’t allow him any real practice time with the team, UK officials decided not to rush the process.
The Herald-Leader was told that the most likely timeline will have Jelavic arrive in town by early next month, which should give him plenty of time to get physically cleared and up to speed before the team begins its preseason workouts.
The Herald-Leader has also been told that there are no concerns over Jelavic’s amateur status, which was not the case upon Ivisic’s arrival in Lexington two years ago.
The fall semester at UK begins Aug. 25.
Pope made clear Monday that Jelavic — a prospect that has been talked about as a possible future NBA draft pick — is on track to play a significant role in Kentucky’s 2025-26 season.
“Well, he’s a vet,” the UK coach said of immediate expectations. “I mean, he’s been playing against grown men, so he should bring a lot. And I think he’s a really good young man who’s been dreaming about this opportunity for a long time. I expect him to come in here and have an immediate impact.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 2:06 PM.
