The Price Oregon Must Prepare To Pay For Revamped Roster Next Season

The college basketball season for the Oregon Ducks is over and they are now looking ahead to the 2026-27 season. 2025-26 was a disappointment for the Ducks as they went 12-20 and finished third to last in the Big Ten conference.

Oregon will have to reload their roster if they want to make it to the NCAA Tournament in 2027. How much could that roster end up costing?

"Golden Price Point" For Next Year's Rosters

Oregon Ducks Dana Altman NIL Transfer Portal Big Ten Jackson Shelstad Kwame Evans Jr. Nate Bittle NCAA Tournament March — Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad presses toward the basket as the Oregon Ducks host the UC Davis Aggies on Dec. 13, 2025, at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With NIL now taking over college sports, programs chasing championships are going to have to be willing to open up their pocketbooks to put a really good team out on the floor. An unnamed source spoke to On3 about how much some teams are spending.

“The golden price point is $12 million to $15 million,” the source said about the price for next years’ rosters.

The transfer portal in college basketball officially opens the day after the national championship game on Tuesday, April 7. The following hours and days when that period is open will be filled with announcements of players coming and leaving schools.

With Oregon’s season already over, they have had two players announce their intention to enter the portal when it does in fact open. Unfortunately for Oregon, those two players were arguably their two best that were slated to come back for next season: guard Jackson Shelstad and forward Kwame Evans Jr.

Shelstad was dealing with injuries all season and only played in 12 games. He was the team’s second leading scorer when he was active, averaging 15.6 points per game. Evans averaged the third most points on the team with 15.6 per game. Oregon’s leading scorer was center Nate Bittle. Bittle, a fifth year senior, won’t be returning to Eugene in 2026-27 as this was his final year playing college basketball.

Now, Oregon finds themselves in a spot with veteran coach Dana Altman where the entire team could look completely different in a matter of weeks. If the Ducks want to get back in the mix in the Big Ten and make it back to the NCAA Tournament, they’ll have to knock it out of the park in the portal. A big factor on if they will be able to do so is how much money they are willing to spend.

No Guarantees

When looking at the best teams in college basketball, most of them are among the highest spenders in the sport. It doesn’t mean it is impossible to have a good team without spending top dollar as there’s other factors like team chemistry, fit, coaching, etc that can play big roles in a team’s success. It does however make it much more difficult to compete at the highest level.

The Kentucky Wildcats were reported this season for having the most expensive roster with $22 million spent to put together their roster. Kentucky went 22-14 and finished tied for seventh place in the SEC. They earned a No. 7 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and were bounced in the round of 32.

To have a good team, it's not always about how much is spent. It can be about how much is spent in the right places.

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