KU Jayhawks freshman Flory Bidunga to enter transfer portal. But will he leave?
Kansas freshman forward Flory Bidunga will enter the transfer portal, his guardian Dillon Craft confirmed to The Star.
But — notably — Craft didn’t rule out a return to Lawrence.
“Flory will enter the portal with intentions to return to Kansas,” Craft said in a text message to The Star. “After discussing this as a family, we have decided this is the best decision for Flory’s future. We will evaluate our options and are open to a return to Kansas.”
The potential loss of Bidunga would be a big one for the Kansas Jayhawks. The freshman big man averaged 5.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game last season. Incoming five-star freshman Darryn Peterson even mentioned Bidunga as the player he’d most like to play alongside.
Bidunga primarily played backup center for the Jayhawks but showed flashes in the few games he started in KJ Adams’ absence.
The move to enter the transfer portal is surprising. A source close to Bidunga told The Star last Sunday that Bidunga was not considering entering the portal. The source didn’t anticipate that stance changing, pending Bidunga’s upcoming meeting with KU coaches.
According to Craft, Bidunga will meet with KU’s coaching staff Sunday. In a conversation later Saturday, Craft, who said he observed negative social media reaction to the portal news, told The Star, “We just have to keep our options open.”
“Kansas remains strongly in consideration, but at the same time, we don’t know what the roster is going to look like next year,” Craft continued. “Flory can pick. We’re going to meet with Kansas tomorrow, but we have to have options because the transfer portal is going to move quickly.
“If Flory were to leave Kansas, we have to have options quickly because these other schools are moving quickly for other bigs. They’re moving quickly, so we’ve got to move quickly. So if we go into the portal now, we can hear what other people have to say. We can hear how other people are going to develop them.”
Craft insisted reports of Bidunga entering the portal to shop NIL deals were false, but did acknowledge the greater importance of NIL to a student-athlete.
“NIL is important from an investment standpoint, and it means something,” Craft said. “It means that the school that pays you, they’re going to invest in you and make you a priority because they’re spending that money. It’s no different than the NBA and free agency — they’re going to pay somebody $80 million because they know that they’re a priority and they’re going to help their team win.”
Bidunga was a five-star recruit, ranked No. 14 by 247Sports and No. 17 by ESPN, in the recruiting class of 2024. He was the highest-rated prospect in KU’s 2024 recruiting class and finished as the Jayhawks’ highest-rated freshman signee since Quentin Grimes in 2018.
In his senior season at Kokomo (Indiana) High School, he averaged 19.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 4.4 blocks and 3.2 assists per game and led his school to a 25-4 record and 4A sectional title.
Bidunga was also named the 2024 IndyStar Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana.
Craft did not give a timeline for Bidunga’s decision.
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 2:12 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks freshman Flory Bidunga to enter transfer portal. But will he leave?."
