Hunter Dickinson shocked college basketball entering the transfer portal, but one of the biggest programs after him seems likely to miss on the big man.
Michigan fans and the college basketball world at large were stunned with the offseason announcement from big man Hunter Dickinson that, rather than returning to Ann Arbor or entering the NBA Draft (perceived to be the two options for him), he would enter the transfer portal.
Now decision time is reportedly coming, though we don’t know exactly when. However, big programs like the Kentucky Wildcats, Kansas Jayhawks, Maryland Terrapins, Villanova Wildcats, Syracuse Orange, Georgetown Hoyas and even Michigan still are all in the mix to bring him in.
One of those programs might not be as heavily in the running as they once were, though, much to the chagrin of John Calipari.
According to Kentucky insider Matt Jones, “things aren’t looking great” for the Wildcats in their pursuit of Dickinson right now. Though UK isn’t out of it entirely, the big man’s desire for NIL guarantees is something Kentucky does not give in regard to incoming athletes, which could cost them landing the transfer as he seeks that.
Hunter Dickinson transfer rumors: Kentucky losing steam amid NIL concern
As Jones noted, the Wildcats have a fine and completely understandable approach to NIL in saying, this is freakin’ Kentucky, man — you’re going to make plenty of NIL money. However, if Dickinson is looking for guarantees, then it’s understandable why that wouldn’t be enough.
To be quite clear, though, this definitely isn’t the end of the world for Coach Cal and Big Blue Nation, though. Yes, they are losing Oscar Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin, but the Wildcats have the No. 1 overall recruiting class coming to Lexington with one of the headliners being No. 3 overall recruit and No. 1 center Aaron Bradshaw. So they have a big man on the way.
Even still, it’s clear that the Wildcats wanted the veteran bruiser in Dickinson to come to Lexington, but it just doesn’t appear to be in the cards based on the information at hand. That’s not written in stone yet, but that’s definitely the way things are trending.
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