Basketball: Jacobs grad Cameron Krutwig helps Spain’s Forca Lleida earn promotion for 2025 season

Cameron Krutwig’s season in Spain’s LEB Oro basketball league got off to a rocky start in October when he was “fired” from Real Betis.

Fired was Krutwig’s term. He said it was not because of poor play, just that the team was sold and the owner wanted players with whom he was better acquainted. The league allows for two American players per team, so Krutwig was out.

Krutwig and his wife, Jess, were able to stay in the apartment Real Betis provided for a few weeks while he looked for another team.

“That was kind of a difficult time not really knowing what’s next, not knowing what you’re going to do,” Krutwig said. “I had to go to a new situation.”

Not too long after that, ICG Forca Lleida called and Krutwig jumped at the opportunity. The 2017 Jacobs graduate’s season took a huge upswing. Krutwig began to feel comfortable, he had found a team that allowed him to play to his strengths, and soon Lleida (pronounced YAY-dah) became practically unbeatable.

Lleida lost only twice in the second round of LEB Oro competition, finished the season with a 14-game winning streak and won the playoffs, earning the team a promotion next season. If Krutwig returns, and he is under contract, Lleida will play up in ACB (Liga Endesa). LEB Oro is considered Spain’s second division.

“It’s one or two steps down from the NBA in terms of the leagues around the world,” Krutwig said. “Spanish leagues are very highly touted in Europe. There’s a lot of former great college and NBA guys who are there. It’s the real deal.”

Of his three professional season overseas (Belgium in 2022, Japan and the Philippines in 2023), Krutwig felt like Gerard Encuentra, a young coach, best utilized his talents, which often meant running the offense through Krutwig from outside or the high post. That allowed him to use his superior passing talent to set up other players.

“We had a really good team. The coach really allowed me to play that Loyola style of basketball a little bit, where me with the ball making decisions,” Krutwig said. “Off-ball action with other players. We had another guy on our team, Kur Kuath, from South Sudan, he was more of a lob and shot-blocker. We complemented each other nicely.

“When I was on the floor and he was on the bench, we played more of a slower style and allowed me to make decisions and make passes from the high post. When he came in, it was more ball screens, lobs, play faster and things like that. We were able to give teams a lot of trouble with the different styles we could play.”

Krutwig averaged 9.9 points a game (third on the team, 8.4 rebounds (first) and 2.9 assists (third). Lleida was 23-3 after Krutwig joined the team and defeated Estudiantes 85-70 in the league final on June 9. Krutwig had 11 points and five rebounds in that game.

In European basketball, Krutwig feels a team’s success is really about the coach. He appreciated how Encuentra, after seeing how he played, used his abilities.

“This is the first year I was really able to show the type of style I can play,” Krutwig said. “I would call myself a unique player with the type of skill set, I’m not just a guy you can plug in anywhere. It takes a team to adapt to that.

“We really had a special group. This was on par with some of the Loyola teams we had with chemistry on the court and off the court. That made it really easy. A lot of guys at the professional level don’t like giving the ball to the center, unless he’s posting up. A lot of my game is outside, handling the ball a little bit, making decisions and passing, that type of stuff. It takes the coach and the guys to buy into that style. For me, it was great to get back to that type of basketball.”

Krutwig (6-foot-9, 270 pounds) and Jess are back at his parents Kevin and Lori’s home in Algonquin for the summer. He is working out and soon will rejoin his basketball skills coach Zac Boster for offseason work. Boster, who has a long list of professional clientele, also provides some great pickup competition when they are not working on specific skills.

“I’m taking some time for lifting and recovery for my body, but after the Fourth of July, I’ll be working with Zac every day,” Krutwig said. “I’m giving my body time to recover and focus on lifting and getting some strength back. Over the course of the season, you lose some strength. Trying to build that back.”

Krutwig was the 2017 Northwest Herald Boys Basketball Player of the Year. The next year, he was starting center for Loyola’s NCAA Tournament Final Four team. The Ramblers made another run to the Sweet 16 with Krutwig in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Now at age 25, Krutwig looks forward to several more years of playing professional basketball.

“Until I can’t play anymore,” he said. “As long as my body will allow me to play, I’m going to play.”

Krutwig and Jess Mrzlak, a 2018 Jacobs grad, had dated since his senior year of high school. She played softball at NCAA Division II Missouri-St. Louis and they continued a long-distance relationship. She went with him to Belgium and to Japan and the Philippines and they were married last summer.

“Now we’re married, she’ll get the same visas that I acquire,” Krutwig said. “Saying, ‘My wife’ is better than the girlfriend title. If something is wrong and you slide the ‘My wife’s not very happy,’ and the club gets it done.”

They were in Savis, Spain, to start the season with Real Betis and Krutwig played three games before the new owner brought in other American players. Krutwig’s agent, Keith Kreiter at Edge Sports in Skokie, found Lleida a few weeks later.

“One of Lleida’s big men came in kind of out of shape and they didn’t like where he was at physically,” Krutwig said. “I got on a train and suited up with them. There’s a lot of player movement during the year. There’s no trades. It’s all contracts, buyouts or a team pays you for a month and you find another team.”

Krutwig would like to return to Lleida and play in Spain’s top league, but he knows situations with European teams can quickly change.

“I have a clause if we won, I have a contract, but they’re able to pay me out of that contract if they so choose,” he said. “It’s still a little early for stuff on my end. Now, I’m focusing on being home, family time, getting in even better shape than I am. And just enjoying it.

“I’m sure in the next few weeks, I’ll hear stuff that they may move forward with me or decided to pay me out. I’m not sure yet.”