After their loss to Kent State in the NIT, Stanford junior shooting guard Oziyah Sellers affirmed that he will be returning for his senior season. Sellers had a strong junior season, averaging 13.7 points per game on 45.1% shooting from the field. However, Sellers has since changed course, announcing on Tuesday, April 1st that he is entering the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility and entering the transfer portal. Returning to Stanford is still on the table.
“I met with coach multiple times over the last kind of month,” Sellers said after the game. “Just him seeing where my head is at. Kind of just trying to get an early start on next year and you know, in this day and age it’s really popular for guys to kind of just go to a school for a year, leave and go get some more money or play for the best school and stuff like that. But you know, after talking to him and things like that, talking with my family you know, Stanford is definitely the place I wanna be. So I’ll be returning next year.
“I’ll be, you know, obviously one of the leaders on the team. So, I’m looking forward to that and yeah, it should be a fun one. I’m getting right to it.”
"First, I thank God for placing me in the position I am today," Sellers posted on social media on April 1st. "I wouldn't have wanted my story to be written any other way. Thank you to all my family, friends, coaches, and teammates for your unwavering support through my basketball career. It takes a village and I am truly grateful. After many prayers and discussions with those in my circle, I've deiced to enter the 2025 NBA Draft while maintaining my college eligibility, as well as planning to enter the NCAA transfer portal."
What caused Sellers to reverse course isn’t totally clear, but intel I’ve received indicates NIL is likely a factor in Sellers’ decision to enter the portal. He greatly increased his value this past season and likely wants to see how much he can command in the NIL market.
In addition to entering the portal, Sellers is also exploring the option of declaring for the NBA Draft. If he could get drafted, that could open up the possibility of making more money and still having the chance to get his Stanford degree. The issue though is I don’t see him getting drafted if he were to leave for the draft after this season. He needs one more year of college basketball to season himself a bit more and even then, it’s not like he’d be a slam dunk to get drafted next year.
Best scenario I could see for Sellers would be to be a very late 2nd round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft and more likely an undrafted guy that gets put on a two-way contract like Spencer Jones did with the Denver Nuggets this season. That’s the best case scenario. But hey, we’ve seen guys leave for the NBA earlier than expected and if he has a good showing at the NBA Combine (should he get invited) maybe that would be enough to get him on some team’s radar.
Overall, this is a very disappointing development for Stanford to see Sellers hit the transfer portal. He was projected to be the number one player on the team next season all while getting a chance to complete a degree from a world class school and play close to home (Hayward, CA). Hopefully for Stanford, they’ll be able to figure out a way to convince him to come back. This feels like a situation where a return is possible, but once a guy enters the portal, anything can happen.
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