Tony Walsh / UGA Sports Communications
Coming into yesterdays game many fans noticed that True freshman forward KyeRon Lindsay was not with the team. Shortly after the game the news broke that KyeRon has left the team and has entered the transfer portal. This is a major blow to Georgia as KyeRon was Georgia's lone high school signee for the 2022 recruiting class. If you're like me you're trying to wrap your head around why exactly he has left the team at this point of the season. The transfer portal for basketball doesn't technically open until March of 2023 so he's essentially quitting the team at this point. To me thats an awful long time to just wait and not play ball. Currently, we don't really have an answer so at this point all we can do is speculate. Here are my thoughts about the tough news for the dawgs.
Many people's first thought when a player transfers is playing time. KyeRon played in all 10 games coming into yesterday's game vs Chattanooga and averaged just under 20 minutes per game. Lindsay was playing important minutes for coach white and he was an important piece on this team. He recorded his first career double-double against Miami of Ohio earlier this season finishing the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds. One of the biggest aspects of his game that UGA will definitely miss this season is his ability to rebound the ball. Coming into yesterdays game Lindsay was leading the team averaging 5.4 rebounds per game. The true freshman finished his short Georgia career averaging 6.1 points and 1.1 steals per game to go along with his rebounding. It's safe say playing time most likely isn't the reason for the early exit by the true freshman.
Moving on from playing time I began to wonder if maybe NIL is playing a role in this news. We don't know if KyeRon had any deals in place but maybe this news is an example of a NIL deal not going through like KyeRon was promised. Mike White managed to flip KyeRon from his commitment to UNLV less than 50 days after taking the Georgia head coaching job. It's not too far fetched to think NIL could've played a role in securing his commitment. In my opinion either NIL or a bad attitude/blowout with the coaching staff are the likely reasons for the unexpected transfer just 11 games into this young season.
While Georgia will definitely miss what KyeRon brought to this team I still believe there's enough talent on this team to continue to build a winning culture. While this news is not ideal less than two weeks away from the start of SEC play this team still has a high ceiling. I'm excited to see if the dawgs can make some noise going into the new year. Georgia opens up SEC play at home vs Auburn on January 4th.