Texas Basketball: 3 players most likely to transfer this offseason

As one of the most highly touted recruits when he was signed out of high school on the current roster for the Longhorns heading into the offseason, rising junior forward Gerald Liddell hasn’t been best served in his career to date on the Forty Acres. The former four-star recruit and top 50 ranked 2018 high school prospect in the nation Liddell follows the trend of the two other names on this list and hasn’t found his footing with Texas yet.

Liddell fits the bill of most other rising juniors that would put their names into the transfer portal this offseason. He needs a change of scenery and still has a lot of potential if he took his talents elsewhere. The 6-foot-8 and 200 pound forward held more than a dozen offers coming out of Steele High School in Texas.

However, there wasn’t much promise that Liddell showed as a whole during his freshman or sophomore seasons. In just 15 games played last season before he suffered a season-ending injury, Liddell averaged 4.4 points per game, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 0.7 blocks, while shooting 40.3 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, and 48.0 percent from the charity stripe.

Decreased offensive efficiency, but an improved defensive game is a commonality for the development of forwards early in their career under Smart’s direction His box plus/minus rating did improve as a whole, though, last season at 1.9. But his true shooting percentage didn’t go up very high, rounding out at 44.7.