Wichita State’s Jaykwon Walton becomes latest Shocker to leave for SEC in transfer portal
The Wichita State men’s basketball team lost its leading scorer from this past season in the transfer portal on Tuesday.
Jaykwon Walton, a 6-foot-7 forward who averaged 13.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game this season for the Shockers, has committed to Alabama and Coach Nate Oats, according to Joe Tipton of On3.
The decision comes a little less than two weeks after Walton entered the transfer portal and 17 days after WSU fired head coach Isaac Brown. It is unclear if new WSU head coach Paul Mills was able to meet with Walton, although Mills did reference, in his interviews with local media, having conversations with players in the transfer portal.
Walton has one year of eligibility remaining, and it appears to be a point of contention whether he will be immediately available to play in the 2023-24 season at Alabama. WSU’s compliance office informed Walton he would almost certainly have to sit out next season if he did end up transferring, as new NCAA guidelines for transfers no longer include a free pass during coaching changes. Walton began his college career at Georgia before transferring to a community college, then returning to the Division-I level at WSU. As a 4-2-4-4 transfer, Walton would need to graduate in order to play immediately at Alabama.
If available, Walton would figure to be an immediate contributor to an Alabama team that won 31 games this season and spent some time as the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Walton received his first expanded role at the NCAA Division-I level at WSU, where he shot 40% on three-pointers and nearly 70% at the rim — numbers that were sure to attract some of the best programs in the country.
Walton’s departure also continues a string of former Shockers who left in recent seasons to play in the SEC, as he joins Trey Wade (Arkansas), Dexter Dennis (Texas A&M) and Ricky Council IV (Arkansas).
Although Walton has never played in an SEC game, the Columbus, Georgia, native has a long history with the conference. He was originally verbally committed to Mississippi State as a top-100 high school recruit, but then flipped to Georgia, where he was in the same recruiting class as current NBA star Anthony Edwards. Injuries limited Walton’s ability to contribute at Georgia, where he left early in the second season without ever making much of an impact. He committed once again to Mississippi State during his time at Shelton State, an Alabama community college, but was released from his letter of intent following a coaching change and ended up this past season with the Shockers.
WSU still has one more key player currently in the transfer portal in center Kenny Pohto, who has two years of eligibility remaining. Not counting Pohto, but counting incoming freshman Makhi Myles, the Shockers have seven current scholarship players on the roster: juniors Colby Rogers, Jaron Pierre, Xavier Bell and Quincy Ballard, sophomores Jalen Ricks and Isaac Abidde and Myles.
