Javon Bardwell’s long-awaited reclassification has arrived, but he won’t be playing for Kansas.
The 6-foot-6 wing from Harlem, New York, had been committed to KU since Oct. 3 as a member of the class of 2027, but there was always some thought he might move up to join the Jayhawks ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
However, he has now reclassified but decommitted from the Jayhawks in the process, he announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday evening.
“This decision is not a reflection of the coaches at the University of Kansas,” he wrote. “To Coach Bill Self, Coach Tony Bland, and Coach Jeremy Case, I want to thank you for the relationship you built with my family and me from day one. My recruitment is now open as a member of the 2026 class.”
By reclassifying to 2026, Bardwell will be able to take advantage of all five years of the NCAA’s new eligibility rules. If he had stuck with 2027, he would only have been able to play for four seasons, because since he was born on May 29, 2007, his five-year clock starts this fall, one way or another, under the new rules.
Bardwell’s decommitment arrives at an interesting time for college basketball rosters in general and KU’s more specifically.
Many teams across Division I are securing unexpected late additions as a result of a variety of court rulings across the country, and most notably one in Colorado, that have provided fifth-year eligibility for members of the high school class of 2022.
As for KU, head coach Bill Self has recently said of the Jayhawks’ roster, which has two spots open, that it could possibly be done but that the Jayhawks are “investigating different opportunities.” Several reports in July suggested that KU had received a commitment from 24-year-old Serbian center Mihailo Mušikić, even as a source told the Journal-World that KU was recruiting him but there was “nothing done at all.” Melvin Council Jr., one of the top players on the Jayhawks’ 2025-26 roster, is suing the NCAA in Douglas County court in an attempt to earn a sixth year based on the premise that neither of his junior-college seasons should count toward his NCAA eligibility.
Elsewhere, a couple of transfer guards with newly acquired fifth years have reportedly heard from KU in one fashion or another, and recently graduated Jayhawk wing Tre White falls into the class of players given another year of eligibility by the Colorado ruling, even after he impressed for the Miami Heat in the NBA Summer League last month. It’s not clear yet whether he might return to college or even if that ruling will stick, as the NCAA continues to fight it.
In any case, Bardwell is now headed elsewhere, leaving KU without a commitment in 2027 (albeit still at an early stage of the cycle). A former Overtime Elite teammate of KU guard Taylen Kinney, Bardwell will undoubtedly have plenty of suitors after an impressive showing at the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy, in June.
