PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Two days after a national basketball reporter tweeted last April that Oumar Ballo’s “asking price” to play for another school was $1.2 million, the former Arizona center said his car was broken into.
There was a correlation, Ballo said.
“They stole my wallet because of his tweet,” Ballo said. “People in my neighborhood thought I had a million dollars in my house and they broke into my car. My wallet, my cash, my laptop, all gone.”
Inside the wallet, Ballo said, was his driver’s license, three credit cards and some cash. He declined to say how much cash — and his NIL deal remains private — but Ballo indicated that the wallet wasn’t exactly full of a million dollars, or anything close to that.
Besides, Ballo said, money was not why he ultimately chose to play at Indiana for his final season of college basketball. He said it was more about the way the Hoosiers developed big men, while also noting that it was simply time to move on from Arizona.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) stuffs a shot from Clemson forward RJ Godfrey (10) in the second half of their Sweet 16 game in the NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles on March 28, 2024.
Both Ballo and UA coach Tommy Lloyd have described Ballo’s departure as a “mutual decision,” and repeated as much during press conferences Tuesday before the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The two have a deep relationship that dates back to when Lloyd began to recruit Ballo for Gonzaga around the time he led Mali to the FIBA U16 Africas Championships in 2017.
Eventually, Ballo showed up in Spokane and sat out the 2019-20 season as an academic redshirt before he played sparingly for the Zags in 2020-21. Then Ballo followed Lloyd to Arizona in the spring of 2021, and played three seasons with the Wildcats.
Along the way, Ballo learned about natural progression. He played a backup role behind NBA-bound Christian Koloko in 2021-22, then started the past two seasons for the Wildcats, becoming an all-Pac-12 player both times.
Meanwhile, Ballo’s backup last season was Motiejus Krivas, a promising 7-2 freshman from Lithuania who projected as a high-level starter someplace this season.
Maybe someplace else.
“Let’s talk reality here,” Lloyd said. “If Oumar came back, Mo Krivas might not be at Arizona right now, and Oumar didn’t want to put him in a position to transfer. For a dude to do that for a younger guy, that tells you what kind of guy you’re dealing with. He’s an F-ing stud. That’s all I’ve got to stay about that. I love that guy.”
So Ballo moved on, strange as it seemed.
“It was mutual but at the same time it was hard for me because I’ve known Tommy back in 2017 or 2018,” Ballo said. “It’s been a long process but as a grown man, I’ve seen C-Lo (Koloko) leave and I got the minutes. I felt like Krivas deserves it. It was fair for him to get the minutes, to get that role and take the next step. So I had to go somewhere else.”
Arizona center Oumar Ballo, left, dumps confetti onto coach Tommy Lloyd while celebrating the team’s win over UCLA in the championship game of the men’s Pac-12 Tournament on March 11, 2023, in Las Vegas.
Eight days after he announced he was leaving the Wildcats, Ballo committed to Indiana. He canceled visits to Louisville, Kansas, North Carolina and Florida, saying Tuesday that the Hoosiers’ success at helping big men Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kel’el Ware into the NBA convinced him.
Ballo had personal knowledge of both players. He outplayed Jackson-Davis in UA’s 89-75 win over the Hoosiers in Las Vegas during the 2022-23 season, then saw Jackson-Davis become a second-round NBA Draft pick in 2023, now starting for the Golden State Warriors.
Ware’s story was possibly even more compelling. Scoring just five points against Arizona at McKale Center as a reserve Oregon freshman in 2022-23, Ware became a second-team all-Big Ten pick as a sophomore last season at Indiana — and a mid-first round NBA Draft pick last spring.
“If you take a look Indiana, the past two years, they put their center in the league, they did great with the bigs,” Ballo said. “I feel like it would be a great spot for me to go, where they play inside-out.
“I have to think about my career. It’s not about like, ‘Oh, I’m going there to get money,’ but about what happens in the next five to 10 years. You have to set up a great basement. I felt like that was the biggest reason why I went to Arizona.”
Indiana’s Oumar Ballo shoots over South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles (30) during the second half on Nov. 16, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind.
At the same time, Ballo has an opportunity to help the Hoosiers move on without Ware. Over five games so far, Ballo is averaging 13.0 points and 9.3 rebounds, while playing interior defense that has helped Indiana keep opponents to the 18th-lowest 2-point percentage mark (41.5) in Division I.
Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson said like Jackson-Davis and Ware, Ballo has been helping clean up a lot of defensive mistakes elsewhere. While Ballo wasn’t known primarily as a shot-blocker at Arizona in the way Koloko was, he’s blocking 10.7% of opponents’ shots when he’s on the floor so far this season, the 26th best block percentage nationally.
“He’s been everything that I thought when we were recruiting him — well-mannered, he works and he’s coachable,” Woodson said. “He’s still trying to learn who I am as a coach and, and I’m trying to learn his game and what he likes to do on both ends of the floor.
“We’ve got to keep helping each other, because that’s what it’s all about when you go in the portal and you bring players that are not used to being around. But it’s been a good process so far having him on our team.”
At Arizona, meanwhile, Krivas’ preseason foot injury has made it difficult so far to assess how well he’s moving into Ballo’s place.
Krivas excelled for Lithuania in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket event last July, averaging 13.7 points and 8.9 rebounds while shooting 59.6%, and appeared to be ready to jump into the starting role. ESPN even began projecting him as a first-round NBA Draft pick next June.
But Krivas started experiencing pain shortly after returning to Tucson, missed most of the preseason and played under a minutes restriction before starting in Arizona’s 69-55 loss to Duke on Nov. 22.
Now, just after Krivas has broken into the starting lineup, both he and Ballo are playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
And, just as Lloyd says he’s rooting for Ballo now, Ballo says he’s pulling for Krivas.
“Krivas is a great player, and he deserved that role,” Ballo said. “Hopefully he’s gonna have a great season, because he’s a great guy.”
Arizona center Oumar Ballo stands at center court with his family and head coach Tommy Lloyd during the Wildcats Senior Day pregame ceremony at McKale Center, March 2, 2024.
