In the NIL era of college sports, coaching changes can mean catastrophe for a roster.
Michigan basketball proved that doesn’t have to be the case after losing ex-coach Dusty May to the NBA this summer, but it wasn’t a clean sweep: junior point guard L.J. Cason is reportedly entering the transfer portal for the 2026-27 season, as reported by Joe Tipton of On3. He’s the only one of 14 scholarship players on the roster under May who’s departing rather than play for new coach Mike Boynton Jr.
Cason was the final decision, and from the moment May left, he appeared to be one of the top players to watch: Cason committed to May at Florida Atlantic ahead of the 2024-25 season, then followed him to Ann Arbor when May took the U-M job that spring.
Add to it that Cason is rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered in February − there’s hope that he can play in the back half of this season. With the NCAA adopting a five-in-five rule to eliminate medical redshirts, there’s no reason to hold him back once his health allows him to play − and there was additional uncertainty about how he saw his future.
When Michigan posted a series of photos from a workout on social media on Saturday, July 11, and Cason was featured in it, signs seemed to point toward a return, but he’s now looking elsewhere. Entering the transfer portal is not a guarantee he’ll leave the program, but he likely has played his final game in Ann Arbor.
Cason averaged 8.4 points and 2.4 assists a game last season, but he took his game to another level for the Wolverines in February, scoring in double figures in four of five games prior to tearing his ACL while averaging 11.8 points per game. In U-M’s road win over the Illini, when he suffered the injury, he scored nine points in 13 minutes.
The timeline of his return from the ACL tear was uncertain, as he waited until after the NCAA Tournament to have surgery, and the Wolverines have an impressive backcourt already with Trey McKenney, Elliot Cadeau and five-star freshman Brandon McCoy Jr.. But there was potential for him to come back and deliver a boost for the Wolverines mid-season.
The Wolverines have spent the offseason following their NCAA championship as a top-10 roster. Despite Cason’s entry into the portal, that Boynton brought back nearly the entire roster is impressive in this era, as other teams called U-M players’ agents in the days after May’s departure.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: L.J. Cason reportedly leaving Michigan basketball, enter transfer portal
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