Per Verbal Commits’ transfer portal tracker, Stanford sophomore guard Noah Taitz has entered the transfer portal. Taitz averaged 4.5 points and 1.6 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game this past season on 37.9% shooting from the field, 43.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 50.0% shooting from the foul line. Taitz played in 14 games before going down with a leg injury in the middle of January that ended up ending his season.
Assuming Taitz is gone, Stanford is losing a guard who has the ability to stretch the floor and knock down shots from the perimeter as well as provide sound defense. Stanford could have used Taitz and his shooting down the stretch of the season. When he was on his game, he provided some extra depth and was another weapon that Stanford could go to.
Taitz came to Stanford as a 2020 3-star shooting guard out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He chose Stanford over the likes of BYU, Saint Mary’s, San Diego State, USC, and Washington. It’ll be interesting to see if ends up going to one of those other programs or if he’ll go somewhere else.
As far as how Stanford can respond to this, it would be really nice if they could find a guard or some other body in the transfer portal that can come in and crack the rotation right away. This Stanford team needs to get older and losing a guy who would have been a junior and provided a veteran presence in the back court is less than ideal.
On the plus side, this also will free up more minutes for incoming freshmen Jaylen Thompson and Ryan Agarwal, two 4-star wings who should be able to provide a solid scoring punch from the perimeter as well as in transition. If Thompson and Agarwal are able to have the type of impact that Stanford hopes they’ll have, it’s possible that the departure of Taitz won’t be really felt. Especially if they can add someone in the transfer portal that gives them some experience.
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