Perhaps the energetic but level-headed former Wildcat forward already knew it would work out when he and Johnson were both headed to the Miami Heat on Thursday – Larsson as the No. 44 overall pick and Johnson on a two-way contract as an undrafted free agent.

“I just tried to enjoy it,” Larsson said Thursday night in a Zoom call with the Heat from New York. “My family flew in from Sweden, so I tried to enjoy the time with them. We just hung out, watched the draft, and when my name was called today, it was special.”

Johnson wasn't called during ESPN's broadcast of the 28th-round pick in the second round — well, neither was Larsson, really, since his selection came during a commercial break — but the Heat called Johnson up anyway. The two sides agreed to a two-way contract that allows the Heat to send Johnson back and forth to their G League affiliate.

It was no accident that Larsson and Johnson ended up on the same team. Adam Simon, the Heat's vice president of basketball operations, said he has a long-standing relationship with Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd and learned more about the players through him.

Simon said he also watched Johnson during his three years at San Diego State before transferring to Arizona last summer.

“Pelle is a player we've been watching for years,” Simon said. “We worked a lot with coach Lloyd in Arizona, both him and Keshad. We were very impressed with both guys.”

Simon said Larsson was the highest-ranked available player on the Heat's roster when they selected No. 43 and that they were still able to select Larsson at No. 44 after trading down one spot in a deal with Houston and Atlanta.

He also said Johnson was the Heat's highest-rated undrafted player. News of Johnson's two-way deal surfaced immediately after the draft.

Smith said the Heat wanted to focus on versatility in any new additions during draft week, which began on Wednesday when the team took former Oregon and Indiana big man Kel'el Ware with the 15th pick of the first round.

For Larsson, who was a regular game reporter and defended multiple positions in three seasons with the Wildcats, that was a good fit for the Heat. In a post-draft Zoom interview Thursday night, Larsson said he had “good conversations” with the Heat during the pre-draft process and that his game would fit a team that values ​​versatility.

“I trained there and it was a good time,” Larsson said. “With the Heat, you just feel like they have very versatile players who have had long careers and can do a lot of things, similar players to me who are great shooters. I'm just looking forward to incorporating that into my day-to-day life and my training.”

Larsson landed exactly where he was projected to go in major NBA mock drafts, 40-48. Johnson was projected to go between 43 and undrafted in the mock drafts.

Larsson was the fourth Arizona player drafted in the Lloyd era and the first since the Wildcats drafted three players in the 2022 draft. Larsson was also just the fifth Swedish native selected in the draft, going just seven spots after Bobi Klintman was the country's fourth pick when he went to Detroit as the No. 37 pick after seasons with Wake Forest and Cairns in Australia's NBL.

Both Larsson and Johnson appear to have improved their chances in the NBA Draft while playing for Arizona last season. Both participated in the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago last month, while Larsson also worked out with teams that had picks as high as No. 18 and spent the last two months auditioning across the country.

“I was pretty much constantly on the road training,” Larsson said. “But I really enjoyed all the training sessions. It was an opportunity to compete and stay in shape. The training sessions are really fun. You get to compete with people who are in a similar position to you. The days in between are a little less fun, but once one training session is over, I just look forward to the next one.”

Now Larsson and Johnson won't have to run around as much to prove themselves to the Heat, likely during Summer League and training camp, but Larsson expressed optimism that he could make an immediate impact.

“Basketball is much more than just shooting the ball, so I try to do my best in all those areas,” Larsson said. “There are guys in the league who make an immediate impression and are similar to me. And during the selection process I got feedback that they liked me, and now I have proof of that with this draft.”

Adding Larsson and USC's Bronny James, who went to the Lakers with the No. 55 pick, the imploding Pac-12 had nine players selected in the draft, the most the league has had since it selected 10 players in the 2020 draft, including Josh Green, Zeke Nnaji and Arizona's Nico Mannion.

Colorado had three draftees — Cody Williams at 10, Tristan da Silva at 18 and KJ Simpson at 42 — while USC had two in Collier and James. Other Pac-12 players taken were Cal's Jaylon Tyson (20), WSU's Jaylen Wells (39) and UCLA's Adem Bona (41).