CBB PG Reportedly Has $3M NIL Contract Offers in Transfer Portal, Top Rosters Cost $7M

The NCAA men's college basketball transfer portal has already blown up, with over 1,000 names entered since it opened on Monday.

The market for the top players is raising as well.

According to Kevin Sweeney of SI.com, "one top point guard has already received multiple $3 million offers, and numbers between $1 million and $2 million pop up far more often than they did a year ago in conversation."

He added that while between 25-50 players received deals worth $1 million or more in 2024, that number is expected to double this year.

That increase in top-end deals likely comes down to operating roster budgets for schools also increasing.

As Sweeney reported, "A major driver of that is the advent of revenue sharing, with most high-majors and several top mid-majors able to share $3 million or more in addition to plans to use existing NIL collectives to operate above that. A high-end roster budget last year was around $5 million, now that number feels closer to $7 million based on recent conversations with staffs across the country. A few schools will spend even more than that."

Even with increased budgets, however, schools can't afford to be chasing more than a few big targets in the portal. That may lead to an increased emphasis on roster retention.

One thing is for certain—nobody seems particularly thrilled with the beginning of the portal taking place smack dab in the middle of the NCAA tournament.

The transfer portal is here to stay, and that isn't a bad thing—nobody suggests that professional athletes shouldn't be able to change teams in free agency or seek out their market value. But it has changed how roster-building works for college coaches and programs, and that adjustment is clearly an ongoing process.