UCLA could get Duke 5-star freshman phenom transfer to turn program around

UCLA could get Duke 5-star freshman phenom transfer to turn program around originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

For one of the most storied programs in college basketball history, UCLA isn’t all that relevant these days.

Advertisement

Aside from that surprise NCAA Tournament run with Jaime Jaquez, the Bruins have been pretty quiet in recent years.

It’s obviously been a long time since John Wooden. But it’s even been a long time since Kevin Love, Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook.

It takes more than just one player to turn a program around, but there is one guy available who is particularly intriguing as far as potentially making things better in UCLA in a hurry.

His name? Nikolas Khamenia.

Khamenia is in the transfer portal after his freshman season at Duke. He was a five-star recruit, and he made an official visit to UCLA when he was going through his recruitment.

Advertisement

MORE: The One Shining Moment video showed all the emotion

The 6-foot-8 wing has athleticism and shooting talent, and he averaged 5.7 points per game in his freshman season with the Blue Devils while playing maybe fewer minutes than he would’ve expected.

His upside is still big, though.

“Nik Khamenia started the year as a projected first-round pick on my draft board,” ESPN’s Jonathan Givony writes, “and I fully expect him to be back there. He’s going to drive winning next year with his combination of connective passing, toughness, skill and improving shot-making. Turned 19 in late December.”

Advertisement

Khamenia is from UCLA’s neck of the woods, having attended Harvard Westlake High School. If there was ever a player Mick Cronin needed to land in the portal, it’s him.

And if that happens, maybe UCLA can finally return to some stronger national relevance.

More college basketball transfer news:

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ucla-could-duke-5-star-173713107.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-04-08 17:37:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.