Two Potential Portal Additions Who Would Help UCLA Next Season

UCLA basketball could enter next season on the outside looking in of the top 25 rankings. Last year, Mick Cronin and the Bruins were considered one of the better teams in college basketball, entering the season ranked 12th in the preseason AP Poll.

The team was inconsistent throughout the year, and the players brought in through the transfer portal largely failed to meet expectations. UCLA entered the NCAA Tournament as a seventh seed, beat USF in the first round, and was then eliminated convincingly by UConn, which went on to reach the National Championship game.

This offseason, Cronin has once again turned to the transfer portal to reshape the roster. However, the additions made so far do not include the kind of star-level talent that separates a good team from a great one.

That reality raises an interesting hypothetical. Two of the top five players in the transfer portal rankings are still available, and both have ties to California. While both players are also in the NBA Draft and have less than a week to decide whether to return to school, the odds of either landing in Westwood are slim. That said, it is worth exploring what each player would bring to UCLA if they chose to join.

Allen Graves

Graves completed his freshman season at the University of Santa Clara before entering both the transfer portal and the NBA Draft. His debut season was impressive by any measure, and it came in the context of a program that won 26 games and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 30 years.

On the court, Graves averaged 11.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 51 percent from the field, 41 percent from three-point range, and 75 percent from the free-throw line. Those numbers reflect a well-rounded player who contributes across multiple categories without needing to be the primary offensive option.

Graves is a strong, physical player with good hands, a reliable touch around the basket, and the passing ability to function within a team offense. He is not a shot creator or an offensive focal point, but that is part of what makes him appealing. His ability to affect the game in multiple ways without requiring the ball in his hands makes him a highly adaptable piece for any roster. For a UCLA team that needs contributors who can do a little bit of everything, Graves would be a natural fit.

Tounde Yessoufou

Yessoufou played his high school basketball at St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California, and was recruited by the Bruins coming out of high school before ultimately choosing Baylor. He arrived in the Big 12 with considerable buzz, widely projected as a potential high first-round pick before the season tipped off.

The season did not unfold the way he or the program had hoped, and his draft stock declined as a result.

As a freshman, Yessoufou averaged 17.8 points per game on 46.5 percent shooting from the field, which demonstrated genuine scoring ability at the high-major level. The significant concern, however, was his perimeter shooting, which came in below 30 percent from three-point range. In today's game, that number is a red flag for NBA evaluators and a primary reason why his first-round status is no longer a certainty.

If Yessoufou were to return to school and choose UCLA, the upside would be significant. His scoring ability is real, and a season in which he improves his three-point shooting to even an average level would dramatically change the conversation around his draft stock.

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