College Basketball Teams Are Plucking Pros From Abroad Midseason

One of the college basketball’s hottest recruiting targets is a 6-foot-6 25-year-old wing currently playing in Mongolia. 

Kyree Walker, a California native who was a top-five player in the class of 2020 and went pro out of high school, is attempting to play a semester of college basketball five years later.

Walker was set to play in China next season, but reportedly has shifted his priorities to playing in college. 

Walker’s recruitment comes days after Illinois announced the signing of Toni Bilić, a 6-foot-9 20-year-old forward from Croatia who will join the Illini immediately. Bilić played for the country’s under-20 national team and spent the past three seasons playing for KK Cedevita Junior Zagreb in Croatia’s Favbet Premier League. 

Illinois said in its release announcing Bilić’s signing that he isn’t expected to play in games and will spend the rest of the college season focused on his strength training and development. 

Recent NCAA rule changes have allowed former overseas pros to play in college, and that’s led former G League and Overtime Elite players to try to follow them. College coaches and teams are now scouting the G League. 

Theirry Darlan, who previously played for the G League Ignite, is currently playing for Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference; London Johnson, another Ignite alum, will play for Louisville next year. Both Darland and Johnson are 21 and their eligibility was determined by the NCAA, which calculated it based on the number of games they’ve played in professionally since leaving high school. 

“To me, it’s ridiculous. To me, it’s embarrassing,” longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said  in November after Johnson committed. “I love my job, I don’t respect my profession … I think we’re really hurting the seniors in high school, giving them a chance. What’s the age limit now? Is it 30? If you have three beards and two mustaches, are you illegal, are you not allowed to play?”

Izzo appears to have changed his tune. 

On Friday, On3’s Jeff Goodman reported that Michigan State is among a number of programs that have expressed interest in Walker, including Fresno State, Texas Tech, Louisville, Rutgers, Tennessee, Kansas, Maryland, FSU, Cal, UTEP, Missouri, and Washington. Michigan State did not respond to a request for comment. 

Goodman reported that Walker is expanded to command more than $100,000 of NIL for a semester of his services. 

There is reportedly no set timeline for Walker to make a college decision.