Bruce Pearl hasn’t just taken Auburn to the Final Four, he’s done it twice. Now, after last season’s Final Four run and regular season SEC title, he faces a big offseason test, replacing his entire starting five.
Auburn has already made four transfer portal additions, bringing in Keyshawn Hall, KeShawn Murphy, Kevin Overton, and Elyjah Freeman, but if Pearl wants to keep his program at the top of the SEC, he may have to pay top dollar for the best player in the transfer portal market.
Bruce Pearl’s transfer portal activity could determine Auburn’s fate in 2025-26
After a Second-Team All-American season at Memphis, rising redshirt junior guard PJ Haggerty is back in the transfer portal searching for his fourth program in as many years. Haggerty began his career at TCU before transferring to Tulsa and ultimately blossoming into one of the most dominant scoring guards in the country at Memphis.
Haggerty averaged 21.7 points a game for Penny Hardaway’s program last year as he led the Tigers to the AAC title and a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. After a first-round exit, Haggerty declared for the NBA Draft while maintaining his eligibility and eventually entered the transfer portal, reportedly seeking $4 million and a full-time point guard role.
The hefty price tag is in line with what Second-Team All-American forward and Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin received to stay at Texas Tech for next season, and will be the going rate for All-American transfers going forward. With Drake’s Bennett Stirtz following Ben McCollum to Iowa and New Mexico’s Donovan Dent locked in with UCLA, Haggerty is the top perimeter playmaker available and could be transformational for Auburn.
Pearl built to the most successful season in program history with multi-year transfer additions like Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara, who grew into SEC stars. Broome came from Morehead State, and Baker-Mazara from JUCO Northwest Florida State, so Pearl can certainly identify diamonds in the rough and develop mid-major standouts into Power Conference contributors. However, Auburn basketball is in uncharted territory as far as becoming a national powerhouse, and it might be time to act accordingly.
So far this offseason, Pearl has stuck to his typical transfer portal philosophy. It’s a strategy that’s tried-and-true, but has yet to yield a national championship, and suddenly, for a program without much history, that’s the expectation. Despite entering the season with almost an entirely new roster, there is pressure for Pearl to continue to deliver in what is suddenly college basketball’s most competitive conference.
Adding Haggerty would be a big swing for Auburn, but after knocking on the door of a championship last season, it’s a risk worth taking. The next few weeks will reveal if Pearl agrees. Frankly, spending up for a proven star isn't nearly as big a risk as banking on a Division II transfer to become an important scorer in the SEC.
Pearl already swung and missed on a mid-major transfer last season when he expected JP Pegues to emerge as his starting point guard before benching the former Furman Paladin after the Maui Invitational. That misstep didn't sink his season because of the star power of Broome and the emergence of freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford off the bench. Haggerty could provide the same margin for error that Broome did, and with two years of eligibility remaining, he'll extend Auburn's championship window.