Duke forward Joey Baker enters transfer portal
Duke forward Joey Baker has entered the transfer portal, according to the basketball program. The senior and former four-star recruit served as a co-captain last season alongside Wendell Moore Jr during the Final Four run.
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Now-retired head coach Mike Krzyzewski released a statement on Joey Baker’s decision to enter the transfer portal as well.
“It has been an absolute pleasure having Joey in our program,” said Krzyzewski. “He’s been a joy to coach and a great leader… I’m thrilled he’ll be earning a degree from one of the great institutions in the world and I wish him all the best.”
Baker also addressed his decision and provided an update on his graduation status in a statement.
“My four years at Duke have meant the world to me,” said Baker. “I have grown immensely as a player, teammate, and most importantly as a person. The experiences I have been a part of will be memories that I carry with me for the rest of my life. The relationships I have built here are more meaningful than I could ever express, and the lessons have made me a better man. I want to thank every person within the program, but specifically Coach K and our coaching staff, for helping to make these past four years the best possible experience. You all have influenced me in ways few could understand. It’ll be an honor to receive my degree from Duke this summer and I look forward to the next stage of my career.”
Over four seasons with the Blue Devils, Baker appeared in 89 games with four starts. He averaged 4.1 points and 1.1 rebounds while shooting 37.9 percent from the 3-point line in limited minutes off the bench. The 6-foot-6 forward made a career-high 34 appearances in 2021-22.
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As a recruit, he came to Duke ranked No. 39 in the class according to the On3 Consensus. He also ranked No. 11 among small forwards and No. 5 in his home state of North Carolina.
Transfer portal background information
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.