Report: Princeton's Caden Pierce to redshirt, enter the NCAA Transfer Portal

Offseason movement has slowed in college basketball with the calendar turning to June. That said, next season’s cycle of the portal already apparently has a big name set to be in it.

Princeton’s Caden Pierce is to be a very early entry into next spring’s cycle for the NCAA Transfer Portal. That’s according to reporting today by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello that Pierce will be redshirting this upcoming season to preserve his final year of eligibility to now spend playing for a new program.

“NEWS: Princeton star Caden Pierce, the 2023-24 Ivy League Player of the Year, plans to redshirt next season in order to finish his degree before entering the transfer portal and playing his final season elsewhere in 2026-27, he told ESPN,” Borzello tweeted out this afternoon.

Pierce, a native of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, has spent the past three seasons playing for Princeton with 90 appearances made as a full-time starter for the Tigers. In that career in New Jersey, Pierce has averaged 11.9 points (48.7% FG, 32.7% 3PT on 1.0 makes), 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game, which made him the team’s leading rebounder in every year he had there and second-leading scorer in each of the past two.

Pierce developed from being Ivy League Rookie of the Year to being selected each of the past two years as All-Ivy. That included being Ivy League Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy as a sophomore when he posted his career-best numbers of 16.6 points (54.6% FG, 34.2% 3PT), 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.

Over his three years in the program, Princeton went 66-25 (.725), including 30-10 in conference play to win three conference titles, two regular-season ones and one league tournament, in the Ivy. That led to one appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2023 as the Tigers were a No. 15 seed who upset No. 2 Arizona and No. 7 Missouri to reach the Sweet 16, the furthest they’ve advanced in the modern era, before losing to No. 6 Creighton. Pierce, a freshman at the time, averaged 6.3 points (35% FG) and 8.7 rebounds during that run.

Pierce will now be another significant loss for the Tigers since the end of last season. Their most notable was the transfer of Xaivian Lee (Florida), a Top-40 overall transfer and No. 10 PG in the portal per On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, after consecutive years on the All-Ivy First Team. Darius Gakwasi also entered his name into the portal, with no commitment since, back in March.

There’s a full other season to play before the portal will open again in college basketball in eight or nine months come March. It’ll be then when Pierce will eventually become available for his next school with this big news on his future.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.