2 college basketball teams are out-spending the field in men’s transfer portal, and the numbers are wild

Meet the two biggest spenders in men’s college basketball.

It was only a few years ago that college basketball players could not legally make money off their talent. The NIL rules that went into effect in July 2021 changed all that, allowing players to monetize their name, image, and likeness. When the transfer rules changed around the same time — allowing athletes to become immediately eligible upon transferring, where they previously had to sit out a year — suddenly free agency in college sports was truly underway.

College sports are still in the early days of the NIL and transfer portal era, and things are changing rapidly with each passing season. A few years ago, Nijel Pack’s $800K deal to transfer from Kansas State to Miami was cause for moral panic. Last year, the top players in the transfer portal were going for $1-2 million. The numbers are even wilder in 2025, and two men’s basketball programs are pushing the limit.

Last week, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported that 10 schools had NIL budgets of about $10 million to throw around on the recruiting trail. That number might have been about 20 percent too low for two big spenders.

The BYU Cougars and Kentucky Wildcats are each pushing $12 million with their roster budgets, according to insider Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68. Goodman speculates that BYU and Kentucky could have the most expensive rosters in the country for the 2025-2026 season, and both have been making major noise in the transfer portal lately.

“I think Kentucky could be No. 1,” Goodman said when speaking on NIL budgets. “I think Florida is somewhere in the 7-ish million dollar range this year. It could be BYU and Kentucky that are No. 1 and No. 2 at upwards of $12 million for an NIL payroll.”

Goodman’s comments came after Kentucky landed former Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen in the portal on Monday. Aberdeen had just helped Florida win the the national championship earlier this month, and was ready to step into a starting role with star guard Walter Clayton Jr. likely off to the 2025 NBA Draft. Instead, Aberdeen is jumping to a conference rival where he probably won’t be a starter in a deep Kentucky backcourt.

This is still money well-spent by Kentucky, helping their backcourt depth while also weakening one of their biggest SEC rivals. Aberdeen put up only modest numbers last season (7.7 points per game 51.9 percent true shooting), but his connective skill set and big game experience (he scored 12 points in the Gators’ Sweet 16 win over Maryland) makes him a solid addition.

Aberdeen will join a Wildcats transfer portal class that already includes three rising sophomores in big man Jayden Quantance (via Arizona State), wing Kam Williams (via Tulane), and forward Mouhamed Dioubate (via Alabama). Kentucky’s backcourt will also feature incoming freshman Jasper Johnson, rising sophomore Collin Chandler (who is already 21 years old after a Mormon mission), and possibly Otega Oweh, who is also testing the NBA Draft waters. Kentucky is reportedly ending its pursuit of other players in the portal.

BYU, meanwhile, made its moves early in the portal window. The Cougars struck gold with the commitment of incoming freshman AJ Dybantsa, a future NBA top pick with an incredible blend of size (6’9), athleticism, and shot-making. Dybantsa reportedly received $5 million in NIL to come to BYU, making him perhaps the highest paid men’s college basketball player in the country. The Cougars know they only have one year with Dybantsa, and they made sure to spend on a talented starting group around him.

The Cougars retained two key pieces from last season’s Sweet 16 run: shooter Ritchie Saunders and big man Keba Keita. They needed a point guard after Egor Demin entered the NBA Draft, and they spent big money to get one in Baylor’s Robert Wright II. Wright reportedly had an agreement to return to Baylor for more than $1 million next season. BYU swooped in and may have tripled that money, with plenty of insiders whispering about a $3+ million price tag.

BYU might have spent $10+ million just on four players, according to reports. Add in French forward Dominque Diomande coming over from Washington, and the total NIL payroll can get big in a hurry. ESPN wrote a story in Feb. on where BYU is getting all this money, with one booster going on record to saying “you’re not going to outbid us.” The school has already had to put out statements that the money isn’t coming from the church.

BYU and Kentucky are connected by way more than NIL payroll, of course. Kentucky hired former BYU coach Mark Pope about a year ago to replace John Calipari when he left for Arkansas. BYU responded by hiring former Phoenix Suns assistant coach Kevin Young as their new head man. Both programs made the Sweet 16 in 2025 in their first year under a new head coach, and both are thinking even bigger for next year.

Which men’s college basketball program is spending most NIL money in transfer portal and recruiting?

Aside from Kentucky and BYU, these schools reportedly have $10 million to spend on their men’s basketball roster next year: Duke, Arkansas, Louisville, Texas Tech, Indiana, St. John’s, Michigan, and North Carolina.

So who’s No. 1? It seems like Kentucky.

Big Blue Nation sells itself, but it just doesn’t hurt to have $12 million to spend on a college basketball roster.