Duke Reportedly in Mix for Surging Transfer Portal Guard

The NCAA Transfer Portal has been open for just over 24 hours, and already over 1,500 Division I players have entered. The Duke basketball program will likely have to do more work in the portal than it has been used to.

The Blue Devils have already seen two players from the 2025-26 squad announce their intentions to depart from the program, as both sophomore Darren Harris and freshman Nik Khamenia have entered the transfer portal.

With so many key rotation guys making decisions that seemingly could go either way in terms of a return to Durham, declaring for the 2026 NBA Draft, or hitting the portal, Jon Scheyer and his staff have to map out a detailed strategy to navigate this season’s portal cycle.

There are a few star portal entries that the Blue Devils have been reported to be involved with, and a new stellar guard has now been linked to Duke as well.

Duke Reportedly in Mix for Kansas State Transfer Guard Abdi Bashir Jr.

Duke has reportedly shown interest in Kansas State transfer guard Abdi Bashir Jr., along with St. John’s, Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, West Virginia, and SMU.

The 6’7″ guard just wrapped up his junior season with the Wildcats, averaging 13.2 points and 2.3 assists per game on 42.1% shooting from the field and a ridiculous 44.4% shooting from three-point range on 8.4 attempts a contest.

Bashir is regarded as arguably the best outside shooter in the entire portal, and would’ve likely been one of the top shooters in all of college basketball last season had he not missed extended time. The Nebraska native only appeared in 18 games for the Wildcats before undergoing foot surgery and missing the remainder of the season.

The junior spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Monmouth, breaking out as a sophomore. In the 2024-25 campaign, Bashir ranked 16th in the nation in scoring at 20.1 points per game on 37.7% shooting from the field and 38.3% from three on 10.1 attempts a game.

Why Duke Could Use Bashir

Duke had the roster makeup to be a capable outside shooting team, but it never came to fruition. According to KenPom, the Blue Devils ranked 132nd nationally in team three-point shooting percentage at 34.7.

Adding a lengthy guard who has already established himself as a lethal shooter and capable handler of the basketball would be a massive addition, especially considering the Blue Devils could lose a good chunk of their guard and wing depth from a season ago.

Bashir is currently ranked as the No. 110 overall player in the portal, according to 247Sports.