The transfer portal has closed for new entries. What’s the next move for UK?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball keeps recruiting NCAA transfer portal after portal closes for new entries.
- Kentucky has landed portal commitments this offseason from Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins.
- Mark Pope’s program hosted Gabe Dynes, Justin McBride for recruiting visits this week.
The transfer portal is officially closed for new entries. But that doesn’t mean the portal news will stop for UK basketball.
Mark Pope’s program still has plenty of work to do when it comes to filling out its 2026-27 roster.
The Cats still have only nine players on the books for next season, and there are areas of need still to address.
The UK frontcourt, could get a boost from two portal players who took recruiting visits Wednesday. There also are some big fish still in the portal waters that Kentucky could target.
As Pope and the Cats continue to recruit players for next season, here’s the latest UK basketball portal news.
UK basketball hosts portal visitors this week
Kentucky basketball has at least three portal visitors lined up for this week.
On Wednesday, visits began for James Madison forward Justin McBride and Southern California junior center Gabe Dynes.
McBride — a 6-foot-7 junior who averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Dukes this past season — is the No. 203 portal player this offseason, according to the 247Sports rankings. McBride, who previously played at Oklahoma State and Nevada, is coming off a career year in which he started 30 games for James Madison.
Dynes is a 7-5 center who averaged 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game this past season in a reserve role for the Trojans. Dynes is a Northern Kentucky native who played prep basketball at Simon Kenton High School. He spent two seasons at Youngstown State — where he led the country in blocks as a sophomore during the 2024-25 season — before transferring to USC.
Also on the visit schedule this week is Washington State junior guard Jerone Morton, who is set to be on UK’s campus Friday. Morton averaged 7.8 points and 2.6 assists per game this past season for the Cougars.
Morton was a local prep standout at George Rogers Clark, where he was named the most valuable player of the 2022 Sweet 16. Morton played the first two seasons of his college career at Morehead State. As a freshman, Morton was part of the 2023-24 Eagles team that played in the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky has also reportedly reached out to 6-5 St. John’s sophomore guard Joson Sanon, who averaged 7.9 points and 2.4 rebounds this past season for the Red Storm while making 37 appearances and starting 14 games.
Sanon — who is a career 35.1% 3-point shooter — began his college career at Arizona State alongside ex-Cat Jayden Quaintance during the 2024-25 season.
Todd Golden talks about Denzel Aberdeen’s Florida return
One of the most surprising offseason moves involving Kentucky happened right at the start of portal season.
Senior guard Denzel Aberdeen appeared on the list of transfer portal players just after the portal officially opened April 7. By the end of the portal’s first week, Aberdeen had committed to Florida, where played three seasons before spending his senior year at Kentucky.
Aberdeen — who averaged 13.5 points and 3.4 assists per game for Kentucky this past season — would need a waiver from the NCAA or a change to current eligibility rules in order to continue his college career.
On Tuesday Aberdeen’s former — and potential future — college coach addressed the factors that led to Aberdeen’s return to the Gators.
Florida head coach Todd Golden met with media members Tuesday and didn’t harbor ill will toward Aberdeen after he chose to leave Florida following the Gators’ national championship-winning season.
“We missed him last year, and he missed us,” Golden said according to the Gainesville Sun. “We’re constantly evolving in this world, trying to sort out through the rev share, though the NIL, it’s not always going to be a perfect discussion. We each sort of went our separate ways last year and that’s sort of the nature of this business right now.”
Aberdeen “did a great job at Kentucky,” Golden said.
Aberdeen played less than 41 minutes for the Gators during his freshman season, a point he and Florida will use in their efforts to get him a fifth season of eligibility.
“Obviously we’re gonna fight to get his additional year and allow him to be part of this team again,” Golden said.
Ex-EKU star George Kimble III transfers to new SEC school
George Kimble III became a name to know in the world of Kentucky college hoops following his freshman season at Eastern Kentucky.
During the 2024-25 season, Kimble averaged 18.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game for the Colonels. A knee injury ended that season early, and Kimble transferred last year from EKU to Vanderbilt. But Kimble never appeared in a game for the Commodores while recovering from that knee injury, which required surgery.
Now Kimble is on the move again, but he’s staying in the SEC. On Tuesday, Kimble committed to Auburn from the transfer portal.
The 6-2 Kimble — who began his college career at Eckerd College, an NCAA Division II school in St. Petersburg, Florida — is one of five portal additions for Auburn so far this offseason.
He joins Santa Clara sophomore center Bukky Oboye, Creighton junior forward Owen Freeman, Troy junior forward Thomas Dowd and South Alabama junior forward Adam Olsen.
On the flip side, the Tigers are losing six players from this past season’s team to the portal, including suprising late addition Sebastian Williams-Adams, a 6-8 freshman forward who has committed to Vanderbilt. 247Sports ranks Williams-Adams as the No. 37 player in the portal.
What other notable portal commitments occurred Wednesday?
While Kentucky fans continue to wait on portal developments, a slew of familiar players and programs saw commitments Wednesday.
Yale sophomore forward Isaac Celiscar, a UK portal target earlier this offseason, committed to Baylor.
The 6-6 Celiscar averaged 13.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists this past season for the Bulldogs, while also making 40.7% of his 3-point tries. 247Sports ranks Celiscar as the No. 104 portal player this offseason.
He joins a Baylor program that’s coming off a 17-17 season. Head coach Scott Drew hasn’t led the Bears past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since winning the national championship in 2021.
Missouri sophomore T.O. Barrett — a 6-4 guard who averaged 8.6 points and 3.0 assists this past season — committed to Vanderbilt. 247Sports has Barrett at No. 124 in the portal rankings.
Alabama junior forward Taylor Bol Bowen — a 6-10 player who was a transfer portal target for Kentucky last year and averaged 6.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game for the Crimson Tide this past season — is heading to Oregon. He’ll be teammates with ex-Cat Jasper Johnson for the Ducks.
Bol Bowen, who began his college career with two seasons at Florida State, is the No. 155 portal player.
LSU freshman Jalen Reece — a 6-foot guard who averaged 5.8 points and 3.6 assists this past season for the Tigers — will transfer to Texas A&M.
Texas A&M junior Pop Isaacs — a 6-2 guard who averaged 9.8 points and 2.6 assists per game this past season for the Aggies — is heading to Oklahoma.
Which top players are still uncommitted in the transfer portal?
Of the top 100 players in the 247Sports portal rankings, only 11 have yet to announce their next college stop.
Several of these highly-ranked uncommitted portal players — such as Iowa State junior forward Milan Momcilovic (No. 2 in the 247Sports rankings) and Santa Clara freshman forward Allen Graves (No. 4) — have also entered the NBA draft. College players have until May 27 to withdraw from the draft and maintain their NCAA eligibility.
The remaining nine highest-ranked portal players yet to make a public commitment to a school are: Arizona State freshman center Massamba Diop (No. 5), Wake Forest sophomore guard Juke Harris (No. 7), Cincinnati sophomore center Moustapha Thiam (No. 12), NC State sophomore guard Paul McNeil (No. 32), Oklahoma State sophomore guard Vyctorius Miller (No. 83), Arizona freshman forward Dwayne Aristode (No. 87), Cal Poly sophomore guard Hamad Mousa (No. 89), St. Mary’s sophomore guard Mikey Lewis (No. 95) and Florida Atlantic freshman guard Josiah Parker (No. 97).
This list doesn’t include some significant last-minute portal additions, such as Baylor freshman wing Tounde Yessoufou, who entered the portal Tuesday night with a “do not contact” tag. Yessoufou has also entered his name for the NBA draft process.
