All-American Kofi Cockburn enters the transfer portal

(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Kofi Cockburn was one of the most dominant players in college basketball a season ago and he has the All-American trophy to show for it. A seven-foot sophomore at Illinois, Cockburn averaged 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while ranking first nationally in dunks, fourth in field goal percentage and third in double-doubles.

After the season he entered the NBA Draft with intentions of staying there, but now Andrew Slater says Cockburn will add his name to the transfer portal to weigh his other options while still keeping his name in the draft until next week’s deadline.

7’ Kofi Cockburn, who was a 2nd-team All-American & 1st-team All-Big 10, will enter the transfer portal, while keeping his name in the NBA Draft. @kxng_alpha , who averaged 17.7 points & 9.5 rebounds this season, is exploring all options. He can instantly elevate any program.🇯🇲 pic.twitter.com/a9VYNiWPlp

— 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇ℯ𝓌 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓉ℯ𝓇 (@Andrew__Slater) July 1, 2021

Cockburn’s name came up in gossip circles around Lexington when John Calipari hired both Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman away from the Illinois bench. Some considered Kentucky a potential landing spot for Cockburn through his connections to Antigua and Coleman, but that speculation fizzled out and there hasn’t been a word of it in quite awhile.

But with news that Cockburn could return to school, a school that isn’t Illinois, is it a conversation Calipari will still have? Jalen Duren just left campus as a potential final piece to next year’s roster, but Cockburn would look good in that spot too.

Duren is still the dream, but maybe there’s a world where Cockburn is in the mix too. We’ll see. Adding either of the two would be huge.

Can you imagine adding both to this team????

We’ll be keeping a very close eye.