Dwayne Aristode isn’t the highest-rated member of Arizona’s stellar freshman class. That’s either Brayden Burries or Koa Peat, depending on which recruiting service you prefer.
Aristode isn’t the most famous member of Arizona’s stellar freshman class. That’s probably Bryce James, son of LeBron.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
Aristode isn’t even definitively the most intriguing import in Arizona’s stellar freshman class — although it’s a hellacious competition for the title of International Man of Mystery. Ivan Kharchenkov, Sidi Gueye and Mabil Mawut also have fascinating backgrounds and stories to explore.
Aristode is the X-factor for the 2025-26 Wildcats — the slightly under-the-radar wing with reams of confidence and alluring talent who just might be able to provide the 3-and-D production that Carter Bryant supplied a year ago.
I say this without ever having seen Aristode take a shot or snare a rebound in a UA uniform. But the Tucson media corps got to meet Aristode on Friday, and you couldn’t help but be impressed by his maturity, his self-assured demeanor and his worldliness.
Arizona men’s basketball freshman forward Dwayne Aristode speaks to the media at McKale Center on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.
Oh, and his choice for a basketball idol to emulate.
Michael Jordan retired from the NBA in 2003 — three years before Aristode was born. But when his father, Tita, a former pro basketball player, showed Dwayne a video of Jordan’s top 10 highlights, the kid was hooked.
“That’s the reason I wanted to go to the league,” Aristode said. “That’s my dream.”
Learning, adjusting
Aristode said his dad first put a ball in his hands at 3 years old — a basketball, that is. Aristode grew up in the Netherlands, where, like most European countries, soccer is the most popular sport. He played it in elementary school, but the coaches always wanted him to be a goalkeeper or a defender. Aristode thought that was “boring.” He wanted to play offense.
Basketball suited him, and he was good enough to earn a spot with Joventut Badalona, one of the top professional clubs in Spain. He joined the organization when he was 14 years old, living with other foreign-born players and coaches. It was a learning experience on multiple levels.
“You learn a lot about yourself in the deepest times and how meaningful this really is,” Arizona freshman forward Dwayne Aristode said of missing his senior year of high school because of injury while speaking to the media at McKale Center on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.
“Without my years there, I would definitely say that I wouldn’t be able to be here,” Aristode said. “High-level basketball, IQ, the speed of the game, just being away from your family from 14.
“Everything just coming fast at you. It just prepared me for a whole lot, just life in general. So I’m very blessed that I had that opportunity.”
Besides becoming a better basketball player — including being part of a team with ex-Wildcat Conrad Martinez that knocked off Real Madrid and another ex-Cat, Henri Veesaar, for the Spanish U19 championship in 2022 — Aristode picked up another language while living in Spain.
Badalona is in the Catalonia region of the country. So Aristode added Catalan to his repertoire. He also speaks Dutch, French (his parents are originally from Ivory Coast), Spanish, “a little bit of German” and fluent English. Aristode said he learned the latter mostly from watching documentaries about Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
UA freshman Dwayne Aristode, shown playing for the Netherlands’ U16 team in 2022, spent time with his country’s national team in the summer of 2024 while also playing on the EYBL circuit.
Aristode envisioned going straight from Europe to the NBA, as so many highly skilled players do now. But he also thought about coming to the United States for high school and college because the game is different here.
He and his family considered several prep schools in the U.S. Jason Smith, the director of basketball and head coach at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, heard about Aristode, reached out and made a positive impression. So began Aristode’s early adaptation to the fast pace and athleticism of American basketball.
It went well his junior year. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 12.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 52.7% from the field and 39.6% from 3-point range. He played for the Netherlands senior national team as a 17-year-old, getting a chance to play against, in his words, “grown men.” That included a pair of exhibitions against the Serbian national team and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic — who’s as grown as a man can be.
Aristode also played for Expressions Elite on the Nike EYBL circuit. His recruiting profile continued to blow up. The offers he held came from college basketball’s elite — Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, UCLA.
Then came a setback. Aristode missed his entire senior season because of a lower-leg injury. Maybe he overdid it last summer. Regardless, he was out — but not down.
If anything, that period was one of introspection and newfound inspiration. Smith, in a phone interview Saturday, said Aristode grew as a leader during that time. He also got “noticeably stronger,” Smith said.
“First of all, you learn a lot about yourself,” Aristode said. “You learn a lot about yourself in the deepest times and how meaningful this really is.
“It just puts everything in perspective, how blessed I am to be here, in general. When you’re injured like that for a long time, all the hard work you put in, you start thinking about that. So that also motivated me even more. It pissed me off in a good way.”
Arizona freshman Dwayne Aristode’s favorite player is Michael Jordan, and the Netherlands native always preferred basketball over soccer, he told the media during a news conference at McKale Center on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025.
‘Keeping receipts’
Aristode signed with Arizona last November. He said he feels “great” now.
In the interim, his ranking slipped a bit. When he signed, he was considered a five-star prospect; 247Sports’ composite had him ranked 14th nationally. By the end of the recruiting cycle, some outlets considered him a four-star. His composite ranking fell to 24th.
Was that fair? Probably not. It’s hard to maintain your status when you can’t play.
“I fully believe,” Smith said, “that if he had been healthy, he would have been a McDonald’s All-American.”
Was it some vicious insult? Most players would relish being rated a top-25, four-star recruit. But then, most players aren’t Dwayne Aristode.
“I love it,” he said. “I’ve been keeping receipts. Even though I’ve not been playing, I’ve been listening.
“First things first, I want to win. My game will do the talking. So I’m not very pressed about any attention I’m not getting.
“I have my own plan, my own way.”
