UNLV top scorer D.J. Thomas enters transfer portal

UNLV Rebels guard D.J. Thomas watches from the bench during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against the Colorado State Rams at Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo by Steve Marcus

For the past two years, D.J. Thomas has served as the foundation of the UNLV basketball program. Now he’s a free agent.

Thomas entered the transfer portal on Monday, two days after head coach Kevin Kruger was fired. ESPN reported that Thomas’s agent confirmed his status in the portal.

Thomas was the leading scorer for the Scarlet and Gray in each of his two seasons, averaging 13.6 points as a freshman and bumping it up to 15.6 as a sophomore in 2024-25.

Kruger made Thomas his top recruiting priority after being hired in the spring of 2021, and the following summer he got the Liberty product to commit. The hope was that Kruger would be able to build an NCAA Tournament-caliber team around Thomas, but UNLV went 39-28 in two years and only qualified for the NIT in 2024.

Thomas started every game of his college career until suffering a shoulder injury in a win at Fresno State on Feb. 15. A disconnect appeared to develop between Kruger and Thomas as the recovery timeline dragged on longer than anticipated. Kruger continued to maintain that Thomas would return to action, but the injury ended up keeping him sidelined for the final seven contests, including UNLV’s loss to Utah State in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament.

Losing Thomas would be a tough blow for a UNLV program that will likely be looking to rebuild quickly under the next coach. Thomas made more than $200,000 in NIL money as a freshman and his salary doubled to more than $400,000 this year. If the new coach is in place before the transfer portal officially opens on Mach 24, expect him to make a heavy push to retain Thomas with the backing of the school’s NIL collective.

Thomas is the third UNLV player to enter the portal. Redshirt freshman James Evans announced his intention on Saturday, just hours after Kruger was fired, and junior Isaiah Cottrell entered his name on Friday.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.