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Chad Baker-Mazara announces decision on future with Auburn basketball
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Chad Baker-Mazara took to his social media account on Thursday morning to announce that he’s leaving Auburn and entering the transfer portal.
The standout 6-foot-7 guard who was born in the Dominican Republic will continue his whirlwind of a college basketball career, which has already included 4 stops and apparently will finish with a fifth destination. Baker-Mazara began his college career with 1 season at Duquesne in 2020-21 before playing the next season at San Diego State.
He then took a detour in the 2022-23 season with 1 season at Northwest Florida State, a junior college program, before spending the past 2 seasons at Auburn. Baker-Mazara started 34 games last season while helping Bruce Pearl’s powerhouse team get to the Final Four.
Baker-Mazara, who turned 25 in January, still has 1 year of eligibility left. His freshman season at Duquesne didn’t count toward his eligibility because of the NCAA’s COVID waiver for the 2020-21 season. He was also the beneficiary of the NCAA’s temporary waiver that gave student-athletes who played at a junior college — as Baker-Mazara did — or NAIA the opportunity to get the year back at an NCAA school in 2025-26.
Baker-Mazara will capitalize on that ruling next season, but he won’t do it at Auburn. He showed his love for Auburn though in writing a message on social media that thanked his teammates, coaches and the “Auburn Family” for the support he’s been given on the Plains.
Here is Baker-Mazara’s full message:
With Baker-Mazara’s decision to transfer, Pearl has now lost his entire starting 5 from a team that won the SEC regular-season title and was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
On a positive note for Pearl, he has made a few additions via the transfer portal, adding Keyshawn Hall from UCF and KeShawn Murphy from Mississippi State.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
