Georgetown guard Primo Spears plans to enter transfer portal, will test NBA draft waters

Georgetown guard Primo Spears plans to enter the transfer portal after one season with the Hoyas, he told On3. Spears will also test the NBA draft waters but intends to return to school.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound sophomore from Hartford, CT averaged 16.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.3 assists on the season while shooting 40.8% from the field.

Spears arrived at Georgetown via the transfer portal last offseason, after spending his freshman season at Duquesne where he averaged 12.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and three assists.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

Spears’ transfer statement

Spears provided the following statement to On3: “First and foremost, I want to thank God for allowing me to play the game I love. Without his guidance I would be lost. I want to thank my support team in my mom, pops and family for being behind me through this journey every step of the way. I want to thank Georgetown coaches and staff for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to compete for their university.

“With that being said, I will be putting my name in this years NBA draft with the intent to come back and enter the transfer portal. I’m super excited and eager to see what God has in store for me ahead.”

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.