Report: Virginia Basketball To Host Baylor Transfer Center and Former NBA Draft Pick On A Visit

Virginia Basketball has been looking for a transfer center to help replace departing senior Ugonna Onyenso, who was one of the top shot blockers in the country. The Cavaliers have been sifting through multiple options and according to multiple reports, Baylor transfer center James Nnaji is going to be visiting UVA.

Visit News: Baylor transfer James Nnanji is currently on a visit at Virginia, per his representatives at Gersh Sports.

Nnaji was the No. 31 pick in the 2023 NBA draft and played this previous season at Baylor. https://t.co/RiLRs7hAUO pic.twitter.com/FMQoDFkntJ
— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) May 5, 2026

Does this make sense for UVA?

Nnaji is going to be a controversial player due to being drafted in the NBA and then playing overseas, but coming back to college to play. This was a huge topic of discussion this past season with this case and the one at Alabama and Charles Bediako.

Nnaji was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the No. 31 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and was later traded to the Charlotte Hornets and then the New York Knicks. He never signed an NBA contract and never appeared in an NBA regular-season game. He was the first former NBA Draft Pick to be cleared to play in college basketball

Baylor head coach Scott Drew took a lot of criticism, especially from fellow college coaches around the country, for his decision to bring Nnaji back to college, but he had this to say shortly after:

"Coach (Tom) Izzo and I are friends. I've got a lot of respect for him. Great conversation, as he said, most coaches are 99% aligned on things that we would like to see done with our game. At the same time, from my knowledge, until we get to collective bargaining, I don't think we can come up with rules that are agreeable or enforceable. Until that, I think all of us have got to be ready to adjust and adapt to what's out there.

Early on, when it first came out with G League players, I wasn't in favor of that either. But again, we don't make the rules, and as we find out about things, we're always going to adapt to put our program in the best position to be successful, because that's what we get paid to do."

Why was Nnaji cleared? ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf explained it in an article a few months ago:

"He never previously enrolled in college, spending the past five years with FC Barcelona; he never played in an official NBA game despite being drafted; and as NCAA eligibility rules dictate, he's within a five-year window of what would be his high school graduation.

You can nitpick and say that Nnaji was an early entrant into the draft, while the above players were auto-eligible due to their age, but the main tenets of NCAA eligibility remain the same: no previous college enrollment, no NBA experience, within the five-year window of a high school graduation."

Nnaji was cleared by the NCAA and signed with Drew and Baylor on Christmas Eve this past season. He has impressive physical tools for sure and would be a natural replacement for Onyenso, even if this past season at Baylor was not very productive.

This is going to be an interesting player and visit to track. Is this something that UVA head coach Ryan Odom and Virginia seriously going to explore or will they find other options to find a backup center behind Johann Grunloh?

Virginia currently has two transfer commitments in former Arkansas State guard Christian Harmon and UC Irvine transfer Jurian Dixon.

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