The first Baylor player to reportedly signal that he’s entering this year’s transfer portal wasn’t even on the team when the 2025-26 season started.
James Nnaji, who joined the Bears midseason and made his collegiate debut at 21 years old after being selected in the 2023 NBA Draft, plans to hit the portal, according to multiple reports Tuesday.
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The 7-foot center appeared in 18 games for a 17-17 Baylor team that finished 13th in the Big 12, and he averaged only 1.4 points in 8.2 minutes per game. Baylor brought aboard the Makurdi, Nigeria, native to help their frontcourt, but that addition wound up stirring more controversy than production.
The news broke on Christmas Eve that Nnaji had enrolled at Baylor. Soon after the calendar flipped to 2026, Nnaji, who had been in the FC Barcelona organization since 2020, became the first NBA Draft pick to play college basketball.
On Dec. 30, NCAA president Charlie Baker clarified in a statement on X that the NCAA “has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract (including a two-way contract).”
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Nnaji never signed an NBA contract. The Detroit Pistons drafted him No. 31 overall, but his rights were traded to the Charlotte Hornets on draft day and once more in 2024 to the New York Knicks as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade. Although Nnaji played in NBA Summer League games for the Hornets and Knicks, as recently as last year for the Knicks, he never appeared in an NBA regular-season game.
His arrival in Waco made the blurry line between pro and college hoops even more obscure and caused an uproar among college coaches. Arkansas’ John Calipari pleaded for the NCAA to explain its decision to grant Nnaji four years of eligibility, UConn’s Dan Hurley clamored for guidelines and rules and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said “shame on the NCAA”.
Nnaji bursting onto the scene also paved the way for Charles Bediako to return to Alabama for five games this season, in other words more than two years after he declared for the NBA Draft. Bediako, now 24, hadn’t played for the Crimson Tide since the 2022-23 campaign. He went undrafted after that season and ultimately embarked on a G League stint. He did, however, sign a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 2023.
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While he was granted a temporary restraining order to restore his eligibility this past January, his motion for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed him to play the rest of the 2025-26 season was denied, effectively ending his college career.
Bediako averaged 10 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game for a Sweet 16-bound Crimson Tide squad.
Recently, the NCAA proposed a rule that would require prospects to withdraw from opt-in professional league drafts if they want to maintain their college eligibility.
But that potential change would apply to incoming athletes. For now, Nnaji is still eligible and reportedly set to enter the portal.
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