One of the most coveted players in the men’s college basketball transfer portal has decided on his next home.
Chad Baker-Mazara, the mercurial Auburn guard/forward who was one of the best players during this past season’s Final Four run, announced his commitment to Southern California on Monday.
‘Dreams turned into reality!!’ he wrote in a post on social media. ‘Let’s go to work!!’
The 6-foot-7 Baker-Mazara averaged 12.3 points and a team-high 1.2 steals per game last season while starting in 34 of Auburn’s 38 games. He was second on the team in scoring, behind only first-team All-America forward Johni Broome, and earned third-team All-SEC honors.
His decision to leave Auburn surprised many across the sport, but it made an invaluable piece from one of the country’s best teams available. Baker-Mazara is rated as the No. 24 player in the portal by 247Sports.
At USC, he’ll join a program that has had a busy offseason. While the Trojans have lost seven players to transfer – including guards Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III, their top two scorers last season – Baker-Mazara became their eighth commitment out of the portal. That group also includes former Maryland guard Rodney Rice and former Virginia forward Jacob Cofie, both of whom are rated by 247 as top-100 transfers.
USC went 17-18 in 2024-25 in its first season under coach Eric Musselman, who was one of the first college basketball coaches to lean heavily into the portal to build his rosters during previous stints at Arkansas and Nevada.
Baker-Mazara’s commitment isn’t only notable because of the impact he can have for a USC team vying for a Big Ten title, but because of his age.
The native of the Dominican Republic will turn 26 years old next January, making him a month older than Indiana Pacers all-star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who’s in his fifth NBA season.
Baker-Mazara began his college career at Duquesne in 2020-21 before later playing at San Diego State in 2021-22 and Northwest Florida State in 2022-23. He transferred to Auburn ahead of the 2023-24 season.
He has remaining eligibility because players who competed during the COVID-19-altered 2020-21 season were given a waiver by the NCAA and his season at the junior college level for now won’t count against his eligibility after a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction last December in a case concerning Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who claimed the NCAA’s rule that counts a player’s time in junior college toward their overall eligibility is a violation of antitrust law.
