Auburn basketball's Chad Baker-Mazara announces he's entering transfer portal

AUBURN — The college basketball world won't be rid of Chad Baker-Mazara any time soon, but that doesn't mean it'll see him playing for Auburn basketball again.

The Tigers' second-leading scorer during their 2025 Final Four run announced Thursday he's entering the transfer portal ahead of the 2025-26 season, in what'll be his sixth year of college hoops and fifth at the Division I level.

"First I wanna thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to do what I love but I wanna thank my teammates, coaching staff and the Auburn Family for the incredible support for this past two years!" Baker-Mazara said in a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "With this (being) said I (will) be entering the transfer portal. Gracias Auburn!"

Baker-Mazara had actually teased an Auburn return just 10 days before his portal entry, but murmurs of a potential return to Auburn began during its run to the 2025 Final Four, with Bruce Pearl acknowledging in late December that both Baker-Mazara and Denver Jones were in their final years of eligibility after playing at the junior college level.

An NCAA lawsuit leveled by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia earlier that month resulted in the NCAA granting him and fellow JUCO athletes a blanket wavier for additional eligibility. In March, Pearl later said that Baker-Mazara "has another year of eligibility."

Baker-Mazara averaged 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game during the 2024-25 season. The 6-foot-7, do-it-all player demonstrated as much in 38 games, posting 14 games with 15 or more points, eight games with five or more rebounds and another eight performances with five or more assists.

He first came to Auburn from Northwest Florida State College, where he averaged 15.2 points on 48.8% shooting. He also grabbed 3.6 rebounds per game to go with 2.1 assists, 1.4 steals and an an impressive 46.9% mark from 3-point range. Previously, Baker-Mazara spent a season each at Duquesne and San Diego State.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email atacole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter,@colereporter.