Memphis forward Arop Arop to enter transfer portal
Arop made nine appearances for the Tigers this season. (Image Credit: Memphis Athletics)
Memphis basketball has now lost three players to the transfer portal this offseason.
Tigers forward Arop Arop plans to join the open market after one season, he told Bluff City Media on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-11 junior made just nine appearances for Memphis this year. He never played more than seven minutes or scored more than 2 points in a game.
Arop, a Dallas native whose family hails from South Sudan, rarely found playing time at Columbia as well. He averaged only 2 points and 1.5 rebounds on 41.7% shooting in 2024-25, and totaled 16 appearances across two seasons for the Lions.
Memphis has filled just three of its allotted 15 roster spots for next season. Sophomore guard Julius Thedford (8.4 points, 5 rebounds and 1.1 steals) and sophomore forward William Whorton (1.8 points and 1.5 rebounds) will both return. Four-star high school prospect Cello Jackson, a Memphis native, is also committed to the Tigers.
Other players who are eligible to return to Memphis next year include junior forward Aaron Bradshaw (8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds), junior guard Quante Berry (6.1 points and 1.1 steals) and freshman center Simon Majok (10 starts).
The Tigers are losing Arop, sophomore guard Curtis Givens III (9.4 points) and junior forward Ashton Hardaway (5.6 points) to the portal thus far.
They must also replace point guard Dug McDaniel (13.9 points, 4.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals), shooting guard Sincere Parker (11.4 points and 3.7 rebounds), small forward Zach Davis (7.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals), center Thierno Sylla (3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds), big man Tariq Ingraham (3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds) and reserve forward Mason Matthews (seven appearances) due to exhausted eligibility.
Dismissed forward Hasan Abdul Hakim (6.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals), who officially left the team on Feb. 18, has played his last college season as well.
This means Tigers coach Penny Hardaway still has to build the majority of next year’s roster via the portal, which opens on April 7 (one day after the national championship game) and closes on April 21.