Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 45 Sakima Walker

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear.

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown:

45. Sakima Walker

Sport: Basketball

Arrival year at Cal: 2025 (2025-2026 season)

Previous schools: South Carolina

Contributions at Cal:

---Walker was an astute acquisition by Cal coach Charmin Smith because Walker had been a nonfactor the previous season at South Carolina. Walker played in only 15 of the Gamecocks’ 39 games in 2024-25 and averaged only 5.6 minutes, 1.4 points and 0.7 rebounds in those 15 games, none as a starter. But she was an immediate impact player at Cal.

---Charmin Smith’s offense requires an inside scoring threat, and the 6-foot-6 Walker provided it with her good hands and variety of moves on the low block. The defensive attention she attracted in the paint gave the Bears’ perimeter players room for their three-point shooting.

---Walker was second on the team in scoring in 2025-26, averaging 12.5 points while hitting 56.7 percent of her shots, which ranked second in the ACC.

---She led the team in rebounding at 6.9 per game and her eight double-doubles ranked eighth in the ACC.

---Walker’s 53 blocked shots in 2025-26 tied for third in the ACC, and she had two blocks or more in a game 15 times, including a season-high six blocks against Missouri.

---Walker was particularly productive late in the season. In the final five games, which included Cal’s two ACC tournament games and its three games in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, Walker averaged 18.8 points on 63.2 percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds.

Standout performance: Walker scored 28 points on 13-for-18 shooting and added 16 rebounds in Cal’s 83-75 victory over Kansas State in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament in Manhattan, Kansas. It was her next-to-last game at Cal.

Impact on his team: Walker’s low-post productivity was a major reason Cal reached the postseason for the second year in a row. Without Walker’s inside scoring, the Bears’ outside game would not have been nearly as effective.

Previously on our list:

46. David Reese

47. Xavier Carlton

48. Mady Sissoko

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