NCAA Transfer Portal Sees Over 2,000 Players Enter Ahead of 2025 Draft

The 2025 college basketball transfer portal cycle has seen significant movement, with over 2,000 players entering the portal and reshaping team rosters across the NCAA. Notably, 27 of these players have declared for early entry into the 2025 NBA Draft, and 20—including Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, Duke’s Cedric Coward, and Kentucky’s Jaland Lowe—have already committed to new teams for the upcoming season. Eleven transfer portal entrants, including Darrion Williams, Boogie Fland, PJ Haggerty, RJ Luis, and Jamir Watkins, have received invitations to the NBA Draft Combine or G League Elite Camp and are still weighing their college or professional futures, with a deadline of May 28 to withdraw from the draft if they wish to return to NCAA play. Teams such as St. John’s have been particularly aggressive and successful, landing the nation’s top transfer class under coach Rick Pitino to compensate for significant roster losses. The decisions made by top prospects following the NBA Draft Combine are expected to have a major impact on both the draft class and the NCAA basketball landscape for 2025. As the dust settles, programs and fans alike are closely watching how these transfers and draft decisions will influence next season’s competition.