FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas basketball will have a returning player after all in 2024-25.
Trevon Brazile is returning to the Razorbacks, the program announced Tuesday. Brazile, as reported by ESPN, originally entered the NBA Draft with the intention of forgoing his two remaining years of collegiate eligibility before he entered the NCAA transfer portal on May 1.
Brazile averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in 2023-24. He missed seven SEC games with knee soreness, but it is not known whether the pain was in the same knee in which he tore his anterior cruciate ligament during the 2022-23 season.
He withdrew from the draft process May 27 and immediately became one of the biggest names in the portal, reportedly drawing interest from St. John’s, Memphis and other programs. He was projected as a potential second-round pick in some mock drafts and performed well during some of the NBA Draft Combine workouts.
Brazile is the ninth player to commit to play at Arkansas for new coach John Calipari. He joins transfers Zvonimir Ivisic (Kentucky), Jonas Aidoo (Tennessee), Johnell Davis (Florida Atlantic), Adou Thiero (Kentucky) and DJ Wagner (Kentucky), and freshman signees Karter Knox, Johnuel “Boogie” Fland and Billy Richmond.
The news comes after Calipari said he was looking for one more player while at the SEC Spring Meetings in Miramar Beach, Fla. Calipari previously said he wants his team to feature eight or nine players, with a potentially 10th who knows that is his role, so as to avoid developing players just for them to leave in the transfer portal.
“I’m looking for one more guy, and that’s what we’re going to have,” Calipari said then. “The ninth? Depends on who it is. That’s what we’re looking for. Is it a shooter? Is it a 4 man that could shoot? Is it strong, physical? Is it a defensive guy?
“I can breathe because we got eight. I’m hoping there will be nine, but what if there’s not? Somebody said, ‘Well, what if you have injuries?’ If the wrong guy gets injured on any team in this country, you’re done. I don’t care if you have eight guys, nine guys, 15, 16 guys. … If a couple guys get injured I’ll have six really happy players because they’ll play all the minutes.”
While at Kentucky, Calipari reportedly contacted Brazile when he initially entered the portal following his freshman season at Missouri. Brazile was one of the lone standouts on a Tigers team that finished 12-21 in former coach Cuonzo Martin’s final season in 2021-22.
Brazile has been lauded for his athleticism and NBA-ready frame. His length makes him an asset on defense and he has a decent three-point shooting touch for someone his size while having a strong interior presence.