Kentucky’s Denzel Aberdeen among first wave of players to hit transfer portal
Kentucky guard Denzel Aberdeen appeared on the list of players in the college basketball transfer portal just after midnight Tuesday, the first day of the two-week transfer window.
Aberdeen, who came to UK after three seasons with the Florida Gators, would need to be granted a waiver by the NCAA to earn a fifth year of eligibility.
Any such waiver request would likely be related to his freshman season, when he played in a total of just 41 minutes over 12 games. Aberdeen played toward the end of that season, however, including an appearance in Florida’s final game, an NIT loss to UCF.
Kentucky landed Aberdeen out of the portal last spring after a surprise departure from Florida, which won the 2025 national championship with the 6-foot-5 guard as a key player off the bench.
He averaged 13.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 30.6 minutes — all career highs — at UK during the 2025-26 season, while starting in 35 of Kentucky’s 36 games. Aberdeen went through Senior Day activities March 7 against his former team, Florida, and gave no indication throughout the season that he planned to apply for a waiver to play a fifth year of college basketball.
Aberdeen, who turns 23 years old in December, is not projected as a pick in this year’s NBA draft, and entering the transfer portal now — before the April 21 deadline — would keep his options open if he received a waiver from the NCAA.
Kentucky is still looking for commitments for the 2026-27 season and is already losing four other players with remaining eligibility to the transfer portal: Mouhamed Dioubate, Brandon Garrison, Jasper Johnson and Jaland Lowe. Sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic also entered his name in the transfer portal Tuesday, though he is leaving open the option to return to Lexington for next season after weighing interest from other schools.
Otega Oweh, who was UK’s leading scorer, will also be moving on after playing his fourth and final season of college basketball. Aberdeen was second behind Oweh in scoring.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 1:39 AM.
