3 Baylor Basketball Players Who Could Leave in Transfer Portal
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With the season-ending loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, Baylor will begin constructing its roster for the 2026-2027 season.
Among the NBA draft picks and graduating seniors, it is easy to forget that the chaos of the college basketball transfer portal has yet to run its course. Here are three players who are primed to swap colors.
James Nnaji
The James Nnaji experiment was dramatic and short-lived. It is difficult to imagine that Scott Drew and company will want to continue their tenure with the 7-foot Nigerian after he averaged just 1.4 points over 18 games played.
While the experiment is likely over in Waco, there will surely be a team willing to take a chance on a 2023 NBA draft pick.
Mayo Soyoye
As of now, Juslin Bodo Bodo (out with injury in 2025-2026) is expected to be the starter at the center position for the Bears next season; freshman Mayo Soyoye might look to get minutes at another program.
The 6'10" Atlanta native grades out as a solid athlete who needs another year or two of college ball to develop. While Baylor could seek to keep Soyoye around in a bench role, it is more likely that the rising sophomore looks for more consistent minutes in a smaller program.
Tounde Yessoufou
With Tounde Yessoufou's raw physicality and talent, he could play at any level of basketball he chooses next season. Since the freshman has fallen out of some first-round draft boards, fans have been hopeful he may return for the 2026-2027 season.
However, even if Yessoufou doesn't make it to the NBA, it doesn't necessarily mean he will return to Baylor. In fact, keeping him in Waco might be more of a battle than keeping him in the NCAA.
Tounde has shown he can hang with the best of the best, and there will be teams all over the country willing to throw serious cash at the oversized guard, primed to develop into a shot creator that can carry an offense.
Where does this leave the Bears?
If these three players end up leaving, the Bears will be left with one player that got playing time this season in Isaac Williams IV, who just signed a two-year contract.
It is a scarily similar situation to last season, when Baylor had zero returning players in the program. Needless to say, Scott Drew and Baylor have a lot of work to do.
Bennett is an undergrad student at Baylor University, studying journalism on the sports track. He is from the DFW area and grew up playing and watching sports, which inspired him to pursue sports writing.
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