By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Baylor invested heavily in the transfer portal last offseason. It didn’t work.
After losing the entire roster to eligibility, the NBA Draft or the transfer portal, including the late loss of Robert O. Wright III to BYU, the Bears had to rebuild from scratch.
Season-ending injuries to presumed rotation players Juslin Bodo Bodo, JJ White and Maikcol Perez left the team short-handed, particularly with unexpected struggles from big-name additions Michael Rataj (7.2 points per game, down from 16.9) and James Nnaji, a former NBA Draft pick who entered the transfer portal Tuesday.
Along with Nnaji, four of Baylor’s eight rotation players are out of eligibility, and two more — Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou — could enter the NBA Draft, which would leave sophomore guard Isaac Williams IV as the lone returner.
With only one incoming freshman, four-star wing Elijah Williams, head coach Scott Drew will again need to raid the portal to fill out the roster. Here are five archetypes the team needs to target.
1. Backup big man
The past two seasons have seen Baylor’s starting centers (Josh Ojianwuna, Bodo Bodo) sustain season-ending injuries, leaving the team without a bona fide rim protector. Bodo Bodo should be back and recovered from his arm injury, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle.
It’s been years since Baylor has had a serviceable backup big man. Baylor’s defensive rebounding has ranked 200th, 315th, 190th and 335th in the past four seasons, magnified by extended stretches without a center on the court.
Caden Powell was supposed to fill that role this season, but Bodo Bodo’s injury thrust him into the starting lineup. The center rotation must go three deep in 2026-27. If Baylor wants to have a chance against Kansas and Houston, the team can’t give significant rotation minutes at the five to Rataj and Nnaji — or to Jalen Celestine and freshman Marino Dubravcic, for that matter. Roster balance has to matter.
2. Sharpshooting guard
The Bears have tried (and failed) to find a Jayden Nunn-level shooter in the portal, but haven’t been able to replace his production. Instead, a line of players have tried (and failed) to maintain high-level 3-point shooting from previous stops.
Baylor has lately made a habit of recruiting players after career-best years, then watching them fall back to earth. Obi Agbim (43.7% to 35.6%), Rataj (35.1% to 21.8%), Celestine (44.0% to 35.4%), Jeremy Roach (42.9% to 33.3%), RayJ Dennis (36.6% to 32.8%) and Third Team All-American James Akinjo (40.8% to 29.5%) have all taken significant steps back on similar or lower volume.
Since the national championship team in 2020-21, Nunn is the only transfer with at least two 3-point attempts per game to increase his 3-point percentage in his first season in Waco.
3. Two-way forward
This was supposed to be Rataj, but his struggles — 49.8% true shooting, down from 57.4% in 2024-25 — left a gap in the rotation. While Dan Skillings Jr. provided some of the frontcourt defense the Bears needed, Jalen Bridges’ absence has been sorely felt the past two seasons.
Baylor hasn’t had a forward with true perimeter creation ability in years. That added dimension would help round out an offense which looked stagnant at times against Big 12 defenses this season.
4. True point guard
Baylor built its 2025-26 team around Wright, who left late in the cycle and is now leaving BYU, too. Drew’s system is best run with a bona fide facilitator at the helm — preferably someone who will stay for multiple years. He’s filled the role through the portal before, and is well-positioned to do it again.
5. I mean honestly, who even knows at this point
So much of the offseason strategy has to depend on the decisions of Carr and Yessoufou — if one (or both) return, the entire calculus changes. I don’t envy the back-room conversations about recruiting wings out of the portal; the delta between a Carr-Yessoufou-Williams trio and Williams leading a hastily-assembled island of misfit toys could be the difference between a Big 12 contender and another .500 finish.
