Kentucky basketball is linked to new targets in the NCAA transfer portal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball has been linked to several new players from the NCAA transfer portal.
- The WIldcats have contacted Joson Sanon and De’Shayne Montgomery.
- Sanon is a sophomore guard from St. John’s and Montgomery is a junior guard from Dayton.
Kentucky basketball is touching base with new targets from the NCAA transfer portal.
The portal entry deadline was Tuesday night, but players who have entered are allowed to commit to a new school at any time. As such, the Cats continue to go down their big board and kick the tires on potential additions for the 2026-27 season.
UK has reached out to at least two new transfer portal targets this week, and that’s in addition to hosting several portal players in Lexington on recruiting visits.
Mark Pope still needs to boost UK’s roster for next season, and these players could fit the bill.
Here’s the latest news on Kentucky’s recruiting efforts in the portal.
UK basketball contacts De’Shayne Montgomery, Joson Sanon
So far, the Cats have only added two new players from the transfer portal: Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo and Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins.
Both of those players have been officially announced by UK as additions for next season.
UK’s projected roster for the 2026-27 season numbers only nine players, so Pope is in need of more talent on his team.
Two potential options for the Cats emerged this week as Kentucky contacted Dayton junior De’Shayne Montgomery and St. John’s sophomore Joson Sanon.
Montgomery is a 6-4 guard who averaged 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game for the Flyers this past season. That was the third college stop for Montgomery, who previously played as a freshman at Mount St. Mary’s and as a sophomore at Georgia.
At Mount St. Mary’s, Montgomery averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He also hit 41.2% of his 3-point tries while playing for the Mountaineers. During his sophomore year at Georgia, Montgomery appeared in only 17 games, all off the bench. He had per-game averages of 6.5 points and 2.1 rebounds.
247Sports ranks Montgomery as the No. 133 player in the transfer portal this offseason. According to On3, Montgomery has already taken recruiting visits to Louisville and NC State.
Sanon is a 6-5 guard who averaged 7.9 points and 2.4 rebounds this past season for the Red Storm. Sanon appeared in all 37 St. John’s games during the 2025-26 season, with 14 starts.
He began his college career at Arizona State alongside ex-Cat Jayden Quaintance during the 2024-25 season. While with the Sun Devils, Sanon averaged 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. Sanon — who was a five-star recruit in the 2024 high school class — is a career 35.1% 3-point shooter.
On Wednesday, Sam Kayser of League Ready reported Kentucky was one of many schools to reach out to Sanon in the portal. Other schools that Kayser said have reached out to Sanon include Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina and Texas.
Kentucky basketball hosts portal visitors this week
It’s been another active recruiting week for the Cats as Pope tries to fill out his roster for next season.
On Wednesday, UK hosted James Madison junior forward Justin McBride and Southern California junior center Gabe Dynes for recruiting visits to Lexington.
On Friday, the Cats are set to host Washington State junior guard Jerone Morton, who was a former local prep basketball star at George Rogers Clark.
The 6-7 McBride is coming off a breakout junior year for the Dukes in which he averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while converting on 40% of his 3-point tries. McBride was previously a bench contributor at Oklahoma State as a freshman and Nevada as a sophomore.
247Sports ranks McBride as the No. 205 player in the portal this offseason.
According to On3, McBride’s planned visit to Louisville for Thursday was cancelled.
At 7-5, Dynes boasts significant rim protection skill. He averaged 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game this past season for the Trojans. Dynes is a native of Northern Kentucky who played prep basketball for Simon Kenton and spent his first two college seasons at Youngstown State. During the 2024-25 season as a sophomore at Youngstown State, Dyne led the country in blocks with 104.
Should he commit to and play for Kentucky, Dynes would become the tallest basketball player in UK history, according to Big Blue History.
Morton is a 6-4 backcourt player who began his college career with two seasons at Morehead State before spending this past season at Washington State. Morton averaged 7.8 points and 2.6 assists per game for the Cougars during the 2025-26 season.
Morton was the most valuable player of the 2022 Sweet 16 state tournament, which he won with George Rogers Clark. Morton won four 10th Region titles and five 40th District championships during his time playing varsity basketball for GRC, which is located in Winchester.
Former UK basketball player Jordan Burks is a late portal entry
While Tuesday night was the deadline to enter the transfer portal this offseason, the full list of players who are in the portal still may not be known.
That’s because Tuesday’s deadline was for players to notify their current schools — either the head coach or compliance office — of the intent to transfer. A school’s compliance office has 48 hours to officially submit paperwork for a player to go through the transfer process.
This means that we’re only now learning about some players who entered their names into the portal before the deadline.
And one of those players is an ex-Cat.
Jordan Burks will be looking for his fourth school in as many years after previous stops at Kentucky, Georgetown and Central Florida. This past season at UCF, Burks averaged 13.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He scored 22 points in Central Florida’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to UCLA.
Burks — a 6-9 forward who was a freshman bench contributor on John Calipari’s final UK team during the 2023-24 season — has increased his production in each of his college seasons and started all 33 games for the Knights this past season.
With his decision to transfer, Burks becomes with fifth ex-Cat to hit the transfer portal again this offseason.
He joins Devin Askew, Aaron Bradshaw, Travis Perry and D.J. Wagner.
Askew, a 6-5 guard, has already played six seasons of college basketball, but he’s entered the portal in the hopes of being able to play a seventh. He averaged 9.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game this past season at Villanova.
Bradshaw, a 7-1 junior forward, averaged 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this past season at Memphis.
Askew and Bradshaw have yet to announce their next college stops.
Perry, a 6-1 guard, will play the 2026-27 season at Dayton after averaging 5.3 points and making 35.3% of his 3-pointers as a sophomore this past season at Ole Miss.
Wagner, a 6-4 junior guard, will play next season at Maryland after previously playing for Calipari at Kentucky and Arkansas. Wagner is coming off a 2025-26 season in which he averaged 7.4 points and 2.4 assists per game.
Former LSU player commits to Michigan
It’s been a difficult past two seasons for LSU junior forward Jalen Reed, whose 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons both ended early due to injuries. Reed tore his ACL and injured his left Achilles.
While Reed has only played 14 games of college basketball over the past two seasons, he was still a valued player in the transfer portal this offseason.
When Reed finally does return to the court, he will do so for the defending national champions. On Thursday afternoon, Reed committed to Michigan for the 2026-27 season.
During Reed’s most recent full season of college action in 2023-24, he averaged 7.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore, while making 39.4% of his 3-point tries.
Reed had spent the past four seasons at LSU under former coach Matt McMahon, who was replaced by Will Wade this offseason in Baton Rouge.
