Robert Wright III’s transfer to BYU this offseason came as a surprise to a few folks.
Just ask Baylor head coach Scott Drew, who said Wright left after he agreed to a Name, Image and Likeness deal with the Bears before ultimately leaving for Provo.
“When I say you expect it, you know people are going to leave,” Drew told reporters this week. “Rob obviously was someone we had an agreement with, so when you make an agreement, you think you’re done. Obviously that was a surprise.”
Wright was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and scored 11.5 points per game in 2024-25.
Cases like Wright’s transfer have become typical in the era of NIL and the transfer portal. Players will originally agree to deals, get offered more money elsewhere and will bolt into the portal.
BYU’s new guard has said NIL was not the driving factor in his decision to transfer. Even if that isn’t the case, Drew hopes the House vs. NCAA settlement — which was recently approved and will soon allow programs to share revenue with athletes under a $20.5 million salary cap —will bring new balance to offseasons.
(Nate Edwards | BYU photo) Justin Young looks on, sitting in front of Jimmer Fredette at the NCAA Tournament.
“Hopefully with the House settlement, you get to a place where you know who’s on your team and when they’re locked in, they’re locked in,” Drew said. “So [that way] you can build a team.”
ESPN analyst and former Duke basketball star Jay Bilas thinks that balance could be on the horizon.
The settlement will likely bring buyouts in future revenue-sharing agreements. Meaning players will have to pay a certain amount back to programs if they want to enter the transfer portal.
“The biggest I think thing for me in this is now schools can sign players to contracts,” Bilas said recently in an interview on the Rich Eisen show. “So when you sign a player to a multi-year contract with this $20.5 million amount annually ... you can also put buyouts in those contracts. And when you put a buyout in, these players aren’t going to go anywhere.”
