San Diego State’s basketball team learned Friday that it lost its senior guard to the transfer portal three days after concluding an NCAA Tournament interview by saying, “We’ll be back.”
On Monday, the Aztecs learned their 7-foot NBA prospect is gone, too.
Magoon Gwath walked down the hall from the coaches’ offices and submitted paperwork to enter the transfer portal, which for college basketball officially opened Monday morning.
Gwath is also expected to test NBA draft waters. But if he returns to college, as most expect, it almost certainly will not be at San Diego State. He s point guard Nick Boyd, who made his announcement Friday.
“Financially, it’s hard for us to compete with some of these other schools for these upper-level kids,” SDSU coach Brian Dutcher said. “We can compete in every other way. We can’t compete financially with the money that’s being offered for some of these players. It is what it is. It’s a new world.
“There’s too much money at stake.”
Gwath’s father is an Uber driver and his mother is custodian in the Dallas area. Dutcher estimated Gwath will command “in excess of $1 million, maybe as high as $1.5 million or $1.7 million” the way the market is trending this spring.
The MESA Foundation, SDSU’s basketball collective, has worked tirelessly to increase its NIL budget from $350,000 three years ago to north of $2 million for 2025-26, which is at or near the top of the Mountain West. The thought was high-major programs would have $3.5 million to $4 million, more than the Aztecs but not exponentially more.
Instead the market has exploded, at least according to coaches and agents. If the House settlement is approved later this spring, schools can revenue-share $20.5 million with athletes, with an estimated $4 million going to men’s basketball. However, collectives have until July 1 to distribute money before the settlement’s NIL clearinghouse and stricter proposed guardrails would take effect.
Some basketball programs are now said to be operating with total budgets — internally from the athletic department and externally from collectives — between $8 million and $10 million.
“At the end of the day, fan bases should know it’s going to happen everywhere, even at schools that are paying a lot of money to players,” Dutcher said. “It’s what we thought when (NIL) happened. It’s unlimited free agency with no salary cap. There’s going to be movement every single year until the model changes.
“The reality of it is, guys are leaving for financial reasons.”
Just minutes after news broke of Gwath’s decision, the MESA Foundation posted a video plea from Dutcher on social media to donate.
“We need your help to keep our Aztecs at the top of college basketball,” Dutcher said, seated behind his desk in his office. “To keep this team together, to keep our future secure, we need your help now.”
Dutcher and his staff first saw Gwath at a recruiting event in Arizona two springs ago. At the time, he had just concluded an injury-plagued senior season in high school with the intention of playing a post-grad year to continue improving and attract college interest.
SDSU offered him a scholarship right there, suggesting that he was better served developing in a college environment, and two weeks later the 7-footer was on campus.
After a few summer workouts, SDSU’s medical team discovered a major issue in his ankle that required surgery and five months of rehab. He returned to the practice floor in December, worked with the scout team for the remainder of the season and then started as a redshirt freshman in 2024-25.
He averaged 8.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks over 26 games, all starts. But those numbers are deceiving, given his form over the last six weeks of the season. Over a seven-game stretch starting Jan. 25, Gwath averaged 13.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks, drawing dozens of NBA scouts to see him.
He missed five games — the final four of the regular season and the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament — after hyperextending his right knee at Utah State on Feb. 22. He started in the NCAA Tournament against North Carolina last week, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes while wearing a bulky knee brace.
He was named both Mountain West Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, as well as honorable mention all-conference. He finished seventh nationally in blocks per game.
Now, he’s gone.
Asked about his future two weeks ago, Gwath said: “Right now, I’m looking more towards trying to get to the pros.”
The question became, should he opt for another year of development in college (which most scouts privately say he needs), would he return to SDSU, as guard Miles Byrd pledged if he doesn’t enter the NBA draft.
We got our answer Monday.
Should Gwath transfer, he would become the third straight Mountain West Freshman of the Year to jump to power-conference school. Two years ago, it was Nevada’s Darrion Williams to the Big 12’s Texas Tech. Last year, it was New Mexico’s JT Toppin, also to the Red Raiders (who are currently in the Sweet 16).
Toppin, according to several sources, received $1.2 million this season in NIL payments. Gwath could get even more.
“Just grateful to have him in the program, “Dutcher said. “I like all the kids we have in our program. I like Nick, I like Magoon, I wish them all the best. There’s no ill will. It’s a new world, and financially there’s a lot of money out there. It’s like a guy comes up in a corporation. You bring him in as an intern, and he develops and turns into a really good employee, then he leaves for a better job for more money.
“How can you be mad at the guy? Yeah, you developed him, but he’s good at what he does and now he’s stepped out and decided he wants to do something financially.”
The good news for the Aztecs, at least as of Monday afternoon, is Gwath and Boyd are their only two players in the portal. Talks to retain the rest of the roster appear to have gone well, although players have until April 22 to enter the portal if they want to play elsewhere in 2025-26.
The cautionary tale: A year ago, forward Elijah Saunders appeared set on staying, then suddenly entered the portal two days before the deadline and transferred to Virginia.
