Kansas forward Samis Calderon will enter the transfer portal after one season with the Jayhawks, according to a report from Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress on Thursday morning.
Calderon, a 6-foot-8 freshman, played sparingly during his lone season in Lawrence. He appeared in 16 games and averaged 0.4 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. His most extensive action came when he received 14 minutes and tallied two assists and four rebounds against Towson on Dec. 16, but he only garnered 19 total minutes over the course of Big 12 play.
On KU’s senior night, head coach Bill Self, while addressing the crowd, referred to Calderon as “a guy that really, you didn’t get a chance to see play this year, and you know, looking back on it, I wish we would (maybe) have made a different decision” — possibly an allusion to redshirting, a path KU decided not to take — “because he’s got a chance to be an NBA player.”
Prior to joining the Jayhawks, he played for Cold Hearts in Overtime Elite in Atlanta. Calderon is originally from Espirito Santo, Brazil, and picked KU over the likes of Auburn, Michigan and Tennessee as his college destination.
He is KU’s sixth player to enter the transfer portal this offseason, following Flory Bidunga, Elmarko Jackson, Paul Mbiya, Jamari McDowell and Bryson Tiller.
Excluding Darryn Peterson, who will be a top-three pick in the NBA Draft, KU has two remaining scholarship players with additional eligibility: Corbin Allen and Kohl Rosario. Joining them on the projected 2026-27 roster will be freshman signees Davion Atkins, Luke Barnett, Taylen Kinney and Trent Perry.
The period to enter the portal opened on Tuesday and closes on April 21.
