San Diego State basketball transfer portal tracker: Update on Aztecs offseason moves and recruiting interests

San Diego State's final season in the Mountain West ended in disappointment, with Brian Dutcher's club going 22-11 and missing the NCAA Tournament after finishing second in league play.

The return of Magoon Gwath and Miles Byrd, along with the return of Reese Waters, had expectations very high for SDSU in 2025-26, but uncharacteristic struggles in the non-conference bled into league play, resulting in the Aztecs on the wrong side of the bubble on Selection Sunday.

Now the offseason gets underway, and already San Diego State has work to do to replenish key departures in guards BJ Davis and Miles Byrd, who have both announced their intention to enter the transfer portal. With those two gone, as well as graduations from Waters and Sean Newman, coach Dutcher will need to find a handful of guards to add to this roster as they move into the Pac-12 alongside fellow former MWC rivals Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State, and Fresno State to join Washington State, Oregon State, Gonzaga, and Texas State.

The portal window shrank once again this offseason, going from a 30-day window to enter starting the Monday after the Sweet 16 is set, to now not opening until April 7 - the day after the National Championship.

Players will have just 15 days to decide if they want to enter the portal. After April 21, the option to do so will close for all players, unless their head coach departs the program - in which case everyone on that team will have a 15-day window open five days after the new coach is hired or publicly announced.

We will provide updates below on players that San Diego State has shown interest in via the transfer portal, players who have officially committed to SDSU, and other players to keep an eye on as the offseason news cycle gets underway:

Departures

Guards: Miles Byrd and BJ Davis

Byrd is a huge loss for San Diego State, and a player who will be tough for coach Dutcher to replace. The 6'7 wing was the last remaining player from SDSU's 2022-23 team that made it to the national championship. He was twice recognized as an All-Conference player in the Mountain West, and won the league's Defensive Player of the Year Award this past year. With plenty of NBA buzz over the past two seasons, Byrd will look for a fresh start in his final year of eligibility - and won't have any shortage of interested programs.

San Diego State Aztecs guard Miles Byrd. | Photo courtesy of San Diego State University Athletics

After three seasons in San Diego, Davis will also look for a new home in his final season of eligibility. The 6'1 guard from Modesto averaged 8.6 points and 1.5 assists in 76 games for the Aztecs, including a career- best 10.8 points last year while shooting 37.4% from beyond the arc.

As a veteran guard and strong outside shooter, Davis should have plenty of suitors over the next few weeks.

Received interest

The window for teams to contact players in the transfer portal opens April 7, so while many players have indicated their intention to transfer this offseason, San Diego State cannot reach out to those players as of this writing.

Others to keep an eye on

Kjay Bradley Jr, Guard, San Diego Toreros

2024-25 stats: 14.5 points, 3.5 assists, 1.7 steals, 44.2% from the field in 27.7 MPG

Bradley was a JuCo star who joined Steve Lavin at San Diego and immediately made an impact as the team's leader in points, assists, and steals in 2024-25. He last played for USD on Jan. 18, 2025, due to injury issues, and after redshirting this past year, he'll have two more years of eligibility. As a strong scorer and pesky defender, he would fit nicely with coach Dutcher on a team that needs to replace multiple players in the guard rotation.

Zion Sensley, Forward, UC Santa Barbara

2025-26 stats: 10.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 36% from three in 25.2 MPG

Coach Dutcher made his priority list rather clear shortly after the 2025-26 season concluded.

"I think this is the second year in a row our rebounding probably hurt us more than anything," Dutcher said. "And so I have to recruit a rebounder. I have to get someone that can go get the ball or these other guys have to become drastically better at it.”

Enter Sensley, a San Francisco native who spent the past two seasons at UC Santa Barbara in the Big West. The 6'8 forward snagged 7.6 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game last year for the Gauchos, giving him the highest rebounding percentage in the conference.

Grabbing rebounds will be tougher in the new Pac-12 than it was in the Big West, but Sensley's experience, size, and outside shooting give him a high floor regardless should the Aztecs pursue him.

Rodney Brown, Guard, LMU Lions

2025-26 stats: 14 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 38.2% from 3 in 32.3 MPG

Brown played high school ball at nearby Rancho Christian and is coming off the best season of his career. He fills a need as a sharpshooting guard with experience and great size at 6'6.

Brown began his career at Cal and averaged 3.2 points in 14.3 minutes before transferring across the country to Virginia Tech for his sophomore year. With the Hokies, he averaged just 4.1 points in 18 games before blowing up as a junior with the Lions.

Perhaps a move back to the Pac-12 with the Aztecs will put a bow on his collegiate career and give SDSU some much-needed floor spacing on the perimeter.