Ranking the 30 best players in the NCAA men’s basketball transfer portal

Michigan just won the national championship with five starters who began their careers elsewhere. College free agency has become an integral part of roster building, and the ability to make quick assessments on players is as important as ever.At The Athletic, we try to give insightful, researched analysis of the best players available, using film, occasional input from coaches or NBA scouts and our own prior knowledge to shape our scouting reports and rankings. We consider remaining eligibility, positional scarcity — so wings with size and bigs are more valuable than a scoring guard — and the ability to contribute to winning. Counting stats matter, but they’re not everything.These rankings will be continuously updated, with more players are entering the portal by the hour. We will also look for players we may have missed and may make some changes to rankings based on new information.Here are the best of the best available in 2026: