When former Florida basketball guard Denzel Aberdeen entered the transfer portal earlier this month, my mind shifted to Chris Richard.
Like Aberdeen, Richard bided his time on the bench for the Florida Gators. While Aberdeen played behind the starting trio of All-American point guard Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin on a national title team, Chris Richard was in a similar spot. In 2005-06, Chris Richard, a junior and former Florida Mr. Basketball, played in the shadow of future NBA frontline players Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer on UF’s first national title team.
Had Chris Richard been able to jump into the transfer portal and go to the highest bidder then, perhaps the former Gators center would have finished his career elsewhere. Instead, Chris Richard stayed and won another national title at UF. He earned SEC Sixth Man of the Yeah honors as a senior and was taken in the second round of the NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls. After a brief NBA career, Chris Richard returned to his native Lakeland, where he’s beloved and making a difference in his community working with youth groups.
No one knows how it will pan out for Aberdeen, who signed with rival Kentucky less than a week after leaving UF. But one thing is certain in the here-today-gone-tomorrow age of college sports: Don’t get too emotionally attached to players.
In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, we’re all just rooting for laundry.
How broken is college sports?
Don’t blame Aberdeen. Blame a system that allows players to leave a college faster than Wile E. Coyote. Jaden Rashada (remember him?) will suit up for his third team in three seasons next fall, going from Arizona State to Georgia to Sacramento State. That doesn’t include the one-month stint at Florida that ended when UF released him from his letter of intent due to a botched NIL deal.
The House vs NCAA settlement could bring about more needed guardrails. But it didn’t come in time for Aberdeen and his family to decide what they felt was best for them.
Aberdeen proved he deserved a starting role in UF’s backcourt in 2025-26 and was set to take on that role next season. That makes the move somewhat puzzling. Except in the current transactional world of NIL, players know what they are worth. They (or their agents) know what they are making compared to other players, or even incoming transfers.
That’s what happened at Auburn, where All-SEC forward Chad Baker-Mazara found out he was making significantly less on his NIL deal than incoming UCF transfer Keyshawn Hall. Baker-Mazara felt slighted after helping lead Auburn to its second Final Four in school history. So, he entered the portal and landed a better deal with USC, leaving The Plains for Manhattan Beach.
Kentucky will always have more money to splurge on NIL compared to Florida due to its blueblood status. It met Aberdeen’s asking price. If anything, Florida coach Todd Golden and his staff deserve credit for getting Aberdeen to buy in and stay for three years. It may not seem fair to hand UK a developed product, but Florida was handed a developed product from Iona in Clayton, who sparked UF to its first national title in close to two decades. What comes around goes around.
UF has already regrouped, signing Princeton point guard Xaivian Lee and landing a commitment from Ohio shooting guard A.J. Brown. Another highly rated portal guard, USC’s Desmond Claude, is set to visit UF’s campus on Wednesday. Golden and his staff have proven they can make shrewd, smart decisions with the resources available to them.
Aberdeen, an Orlando native and former Dr. Phillips High standout, could have cemented himself as an in-state legend had he stayed. Instead, he cashed in.
It may not make for a pleasant experience for Aberdeen when he returns to the O’Connell Center in a Kentucky uniform next season. But that’s where we are in college sports. Relax. And get used to it.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
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