In college basketball, there are have been two ways to recruits players to your program over the last few years — through the high school ranks, and through the transfer portal.
Well, you can add a third option to the list now — recruiting players that are already in the NBA.
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According to On3’s Joe Tipton ($), there are about a dozen teams that are “showing interest” in Chicago Bulls forward Trentyn Flowers, and Michigan is one of them.
A former five-star high school recruit in the 2023 class, Flowers went undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft after spending a season with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League in Australia. After that, Flowers (6-foot-8, 210 pounds) signed a two-way contract in July 2024 with the San Diego Clippers, the G League affiliate of the Los Angeles Clippers. In 40 games there, he averaged 17.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
Flowers was waived on Oct. 14, 2025 and signed a two-way contract with the Bulls just three days later. He has since played in two regular season games, with both of them happening in the month of December. He played one minute on Dec. 3 against the Brooklyn Nets, and then played four minutes (and scored four points and had a rebound) against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 7.
Other schools showing interest in Flowers include Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, Florida, BYU, Texas Tech, USC, LSU, Washington, SMU and Clemson.
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“But Von, how can college teams recruit a guy that is already in the NBA?”
Great question! As pointed out by Tipton in his story, a player who has appeared in NBA games would be considered ineligible to return to college basketball, per NCAA rules. However, the NCAA has been more flexible lately when it comes to eligibility rulings (former NBA second-round draft pick James Nnaji going to Baylor, for example), and “there are dozens of players currently in college who previously competed professionally overseas, and at least four former G League players have already been cleared to return.”
The bigger question with Flowers is since he’s already played in a couple NBA games, would the NCAA rule this one differently and not allow him to play in college? Nnaji never played in an NBA game, hence why he was cleared to play for Baylor the rest of the season. But would Flowers get the same treatment even though he has played in two NBA games this year?
All in all, this situation really goes to show how rapidly things are changing in college sports. As Tipton put it, it has become a “slippery slope” and that “the line between amateur and professional basketball has never been more blurred, and these cases continue to test where the NCAA ultimately draws it.”
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So yeah, Dusty May and other college coaches are intrigued at the idea of bringing in a professional basketball player for the winter semester, and the NCAA very well could allow that to happen. As more information is made available, we will be sure to update you right here on Maize n Brew.
