Friday, 15 May 2026

🏀 The most expensive position in the transfer portal

Friday, May 15, 2026

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Basketball Transfer Portal

Inside the college basketball NIL market: What it cost to land top transfers by position

The NIL market for college basketball transfers reached unprecedented heights this offseason, with roster budgets ballooning across high-major programs. Some schools are operating with less than $10 million while others exceed $20 million, and with that kind of money in play, the cost of landing a top-10 portal player has never been higher.

Joe Tipton spoke with 15-plus coaches, general managers, and industry sources to break down exactly what teams paid at each position this cycle.

Top-10 bigs market: $3M-$5M

Centers and power forwards commanded the biggest checks this offseason, and it wasn't particularly close. Scarcity drove the price, with top bigs who had high-major experience or proven production easily landing in the $4 million range. A few are believed to have reached $5 million.

Even rotational bigs making the jump from mid-major programs often started negotiations around $2 million. "If you were seven-foot and weren't even that good at basketball, you were getting $2 million almost guaranteed," one SEC coach told On3.

The point guard and wing markets tell a different story, though. Despite fewer elite names available at those positions, the price points might surprise you.

College Football Playoffs

College Football Playoff snubs aren't a problem – they're a feature

The ACC and Big 12 went public Wednesday in support of expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 to 24 teams, with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips arguing teams like Florida State and Notre Dame prove the current field isn't large enough.
The case against expansion is straightforward: CFP snubs are a feature, not a flaw, because they keep regular-season games meaningful and ensure losses carry real consequences.
The 12-team format already fixed the most glaring problem the old system had, and the push for 24 has more to do with conference self-interest than what's actually best for the sport.

College Football

The ACC wants conferences to adopt uniform tiebreakers but don't expect the Big Ten or SEC to agree

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is pushing fellow FBS commissioners to adopt uniform conference tiebreakers, a direct response to last year's debacle that sent a 7-5 Duke team to the ACC title game while 10-2 Miami was left out.
The controversial piece of the proposal would use CFP committee rankings further up the tiebreaker chain, which critics say would punish teams for scheduling tough out-of-conference opponents.
The Big Ten and SEC are unlikely to bite since both leagues consistently get their title game participants into the CFP already, meaning this fix matters far more to the ACC and Big 12 than anyone else.

Rivals Football Recruiting

New predictions for LSU, Texas, Miami, Penn State, Nebraska from Rivals recruiting experts

The recruiting trail is heating up quickly ahead of the summer visit period, and Rivals’ network of experts are logging new predictions daily. Several elite schools are predicted to land major targets, and they're looking to add to their growing classes sooner rather than later.