Florida fans stunned by potential starter’s unexpected transfer portal entry

Literally yesterday, we had mapped out the potential starting five for Florida Basketball in 2025/26. With the addition of Xaivian Lee, we envisioned a backcourt with Denzel Aberdeen and another transfer guard, Urban Klavzar, and/or Isaiah Brown.

Well, it's back to the drawing board with those projections as Gator fans learned one potential starter for the 2025/26 season is instead going to hit the transfer portal.

Florida's Denzel Aberdeen to the transfer portal out of nowhere

Joe Tipton of On3 has reported that Denzel Aberdeen is going to hit the transfer portal.

Aberdeen has been a rotational player for the Gators but played some huge minutes for Florida in the NCAA Tournament. The 6'5" guard from Orlando played between 14-20 minutes each game in the NCAA Tournament and had seven points in the national title game against Houston.

With the departures of Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin, and Will Richard, most of us assumed that Aberdeen would step up into a starter's role next season.

We did note yesterday in our lineup projection that with the addition of Xaivian Lee from Princeton, it would be interesting to see how Todd Golden tried to merge the two guards. Both Aberdeen and Lee are capable scorers, but Lee has a much better assist to field goals made ratio than Aberdeen.

So there is some belief that perhaps Aberdeen wanted a chance to run the point next season, and he wasn't going to get it.

However, Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 is reporting that NIL money seems to be at the heart of why Aberdeen is hitting the portal. So either Aberdeen has had someone behind the scenes offer more money, or this is a negotiating tactic to put pressure on Florida.

If Aberdeen doesn't come back, it will be a blow to Florida as they look to defend their national title next season.