The Kentucky Wildcats are not done shopping in the transfer portal. They just landed one of the best remaining options.
Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic committed to Kentucky this week, becoming one of the most significant portal additions of the offseason for head coach Mark Pope. Momcilovic is a 6-foot-9 forward with shooting range and the kind of skill profile that fits perfectly into a modern college basketball offense.
Momcilovic averaged 12.8 points and 4.6 rebounds last season at Iowa State while shooting 38 percent from three. He plays the kind of stretch-four role that has become essential in college basketball, where teams need bigs who can space the floor and create driving lanes for guards.
The Wildcats have rebuilt their roster aggressively this offseason. The portal pickups have been the centerpiece of the strategy, and Momcilovic is the most polished offensive piece Kentucky has added. He gives Pope a guy who can play either forward position and who will not need an adjustment period to be effective.
Pope’s first season at Kentucky was a transitional year. The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament but lost early. The expectation in Lexington is always to compete for a Final Four, and the 2026-27 roster is being built with that in mind. Momcilovic is a piece of that vision.
The portal has fundamentally changed how programs like Kentucky build their teams. Five years ago, the Wildcats would have leaned on top recruits to fill their rotation. Now, the model is half recruits and half portal additions, with the portal guys providing immediate experience and the freshmen providing long-term upside.
Christian Bliss, the Delaware transfer guard, committed to Stanford earlier this week, which provides some context. The high-level portal market is mostly closed at this point. Most of the elite talent has already found landing spots. Momcilovic was one of the last impact guys still available.
The competition for Momcilovic was real. Multiple top-20 programs were in the mix, including a few Big Ten and ACC schools that needed forward depth. Kentucky’s pitch was based on its tradition, its NIL infrastructure, and the chance to play in front of NBA scouts every game.
Momcilovic is going to slot directly into the starting lineup for Kentucky. He is too talented and too experienced to come off the bench. The question for Pope is who plays alongside him and how the rotation balances out around the new pieces.
His three-point shooting is the most important addition. Kentucky struggled to space the floor last year and had stretches where they could not get a clean look from beyond the arc. Momcilovic is going to fix that just by being on the floor. He attracts close-outs and creates driving lanes.
His defensive ability is the question mark. Momcilovic is not a lockdown defender. He can be solid in a team scheme, but he is not going to switch onto guards on the perimeter and shut them down. The Wildcats will need to design their defensive sets around hiding him in matchups that play to his strengths.
For Momcilovic, this is a significant career move. He went from a solid Big 12 starter to a Kentucky starter. The exposure he is going to get in the SEC is on another level, and his draft stock is going to be tracked by every NBA team that watches him play.
The 2026-27 college basketball season is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in recent memory. Kentucky is now firmly in the top-15 conversation. Momcilovic is one of the biggest reasons why.
The Wildcats may not be done. But this was the move that made the offseason real.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
