Skip to main content
nc-state logo

What it could mean: NC State forward Dontrez Styles enters transfer portal

image_6483441 (3)by:Noah Fleischman•04/21/25•

fleischman_noah

Dontrez Styles
Dec 14, 2024; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack guard Dontrez Styles (3) looks to pass during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

As the NCAA’s deadline for men’s basketball players to enter the transfer portal looms — it closes Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. — there seems to be a last-minute wave of entries, some of which don’t even have eligibility remaining. 

NC State forward Dontrez Styles was one of them. He entered the portal on Tuesday afternoon, despite having played 108 games across four seasons at UNC, Georgetown and with the Wolfpack. 

Currently, Styles, who posted 11.4 points with 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks this past season, doesn’t have any eligibility remaining. But this seems to be a move to keep the door open if those rules change soon. 

It all stems back to the Diego Pavia ruling, which gave junior college athletes that were set to exhaust their eligibility this school year, another season to play. That benefitted former Wolfpack guard Marcus Hill, who is currently in the transfer portal after the men’s basketball coaching change. 

But could it also benefit every athlete across the country? The NCAA was considering the idea of having a five-in-five rule change, which would give athletes five years of eligibility no matter what, eliminating redshirts in the process and the organization’s four years to play in the “five-year clock” that currently exists. 

“I think the five-and-five model is one being considered that could simplify things, remove red tape and there would be a lot more certainly for student-athletes,” Baylor president Linda Livingstone, the chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, told Yahoo Sports in January. “It’s a very interesting model to discuss. In theory, it sounds like an interesting solution that would simplify things a lot. My understanding is no redshirts or waivers. You can play five seasons but you only have five years.”

That decision to move to a new eligibility model, however, was postponed. Now, it seems like lawsuits are going to be the way to get a fifth year. Styles doesn’t have a lawsuit, but former NC State cornerback Corey Coley Jr. is currently suing the NCAA on this premise to earn another season. His court case is currently ongoing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. 

Coley’s lawsuit isn’t the only one of its kind currently going through litigation, either. There are several others like it, including a pair of them by former Duke and UNC football players. If one or multiple of these cases around the country get approved in favor of the athlete, it could lead to an eventual blanket waiver, just like Pavia’s ended with. 

Although it seems unlikely that happens, athletes around the country are preparing just in case. Styles’ move to enter the portal is the latest occurrence of those getting ready for the possibility of earning another year of eligibility. 

But, in the meantime, the ball is in the hands of judges around the country — or the NCAA, if it were to adjust its rules for the five-in-five model. Time will tell.

You may also like