Arturas Butajevas Joins Florida Gators

0:00On April 27, Florida men's basketball just snagged a 6-foot 10-forward center from Lithuania, named Artura's Bhuta Hevas. The 19-year-old averaged 13.9 points and 9.3 rebounds over 7 games in the FIBA U-18 Euro Basket last year. He's the latest overseas talent heading to Gainesville to boost the Gators' roster. Bhutajavas most recently suited up for Unicaja Malaga in Spain's top league, though he didn't lock stats there. Coach Todd Golden loves tapping international waters, just like he did with German center Alex Zimzike before his first season, then Ozzie's and Lithuanians ahead of the next one. Those moves paid off big time. Alex Condon became one of the SEC's elite forwards and he's back for his final year. Urban Claves are earned 6th man of the year honors after playing in all 35 games last season and returns soon too. The Gators are stacking their 2026-2027 squad with returners like leading scorer Tomas

1:01Hall, BoogieFland, the Brown, Brothers, Alex Lloyd, CJ Ingram, Victor Mekik, and Alex Kovachev. They also added 7-foot center Joneslay from Arabian Prep in North Carolina. Meanwhile they're waiting on Rubin Chenyelu, last year's Naysmith, and SEC defensive player of the year, who's testing NBA waters again, but keeping. College options open. Ford is building a deep global roster, ready to run the SEC.