Aberdeen and Alexis planning to leave Florida, Michigan State adds Fort from the transfer portal

By Canadian Press on April 18, 2025.

Denzel Aberdeen and Sam Alexis have entered the transfer portal, planning to leave Florida after helping the school win the men’s basketball national championship.

Aberdeen and Alexis announced their moves on Friday, joining Gators guard Kajus Kublickas in the portal.

The 6-foot-5 Aberdeen appeared to be in line to start in the backcourt next season, but is looking to play elsewhere after former Princeton guard Xaivian Lee recently committed to transfer to Florida.

The Gators are also losing All-American Walter Clayton Jr., along with fellow standout guards Alijah Martin and Will Richard. All three expect to play professionally next season.

Aberdeen averaged 7.7 points last season, starting in five of 39 games. He averaged five points a game over the last three seasons. Aberdeen scored a career-high 22 points, making 5 of 7 3-pointers, against South Carolina and had 20 points in two other games late in the season.

Alexis scored 4.7 points a game as a reserve in 24 games last season, one year after the 6-9 forward averaged nearly 11 points as a sophomore at Chattanooga.

Michigan State, meanwhile, added a well-traveled player from the portal.

Trey Fort, a 24-year-old guard, averaged 14.6 points last season at Samford. He started his career at UT Martin in 2020, then played at two junior colleges, and moved onto Mississippi State and Samford.

The Spartans previously landed forward Kaleb Glenn, who played at Louisville two years ago and Florida Atlantic last season, from the portal to make up for some of their losses.

Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo lost Jase Richardson to the NBA draft, three players in the portal — Tre Holloman, Xavier Booker and Gehrig Normand — along with three players out of eligibility, including Jaden Akins.

Earlier in the week, Auburn guard Chad Baker-Mazara and Memphis star PJ Haggerty entered the transfer portal.

Baker-Mazara, who turned 25 in January, started 34 games and was the Tigers’ second-leading scorer last season. He averaged a career-high 12.3 points during Auburn’s run to the Final Four. Baker-Mazara has one year of eligibility left because of a temporary waiver giving student-athletes who previously competed at a non-NCAA school a fourth season at an NCAA school in 2025-26.

All-American and leading scorer Johni Broome, Denver Jones, Dylan Cardwell and Miles Kelly have used up their college eligibility, taking away Auburn’s entire starting five from last season’s top-seeded overall team in the NCAA tournament.

Haggerty was the nation’s third-leading scorer last season, averaging 21.7 points along with 5.8 rebounds and 3.7 steals while helping Memphis play in the NCAA Tournament. He will be headed for his fourth program in four years. Haggerty appeared in six games as a freshman for TCU, then averaged 21.2 points as a redshirt freshman at Tulsa before making the move within the American Athletic Conference to Memphis.

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The Associated Press