SEC Basketball Transfer Portal Update: Still Wade-ing on some action

By Chris Marler

The portal opened. The portal closed. Still some schools are waiting for the splash they thought would happen when the portal first opened at the start of the month. Here’s the latest of what’s going on in SEC Basketball transfer portal news.

Still Wade-ing

Last week Will Wade finally broke the seal and got his first transfer player from the portal. A week later the number still stands at one. It shouldn’t be the biggest concern considering this is very similar to how he started out last season at NC State. That being said, we are a full week removed from the transfer portal closing and LSU still ranks dead last out of every High Major school in the country when it comes to portal class rankings. They have the second most players who entered the portal (11) and the fewest players signed from it (1).

The good news for LSU is that they’re not necessarily alone. Yes, they have the fewest commitments in the league, but as of Thursday, April 30, only 45 percent of the players in the portal have committed to a new school. I think everyone in Baton Rouge expected Wade to hit the ground running after his whirlwind hire away from NC State, and to be fair, the lack of commits from the portal hasn’t necessarily meant that he hasn’t done that. The results just need to follow.

NEWS: LSU guard Jalen Reece is entering the transfer portal, source told @On3.

In his final eight games of SEC play, the 6-foot freshman averaged 12.0 points and 6.8 assists, shooting 37% from three with a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. Will keep the option open of returning.… pic.twitter.com/cYpbL9FzvU

— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) April 17, 2026

By the Numbers

Out of the top 100 players in the On3 Rankings, only ten have yet to find a home. That’s pretty wild considering only 45 percent of the players who have entered the portal found a new home. That means there’s a ton of talent still left in the portal that’s available. As far as top tier talent goes though, the best of the best have mostly found their new home.

In total 1,373 players entered the portal before it closed, and 617 players committed. Shockingly, just two players withdrew their name from the portal. That’s down from 31 players a year ago.