If it wasn't clear already, the Oregon Ducks are going to have to restructure their entire team. Today, another player set in motion the rebuild in Eugene.
The Oregon Ducks basketball program has never been amazing (outside of 2016-17), but they've hardly been terrible. This past season, they were terrible. With a 12-20 finish, it was their worst finish in almost 20 years.
In college sports now, it's a new era. Teams are built less on continuity and chemistry and are based around NIL money and the transfer portal. For the University of Oregon, they'll need to start relying on both of those sooner rather than later.
The Ducks have had an eventful offseason to this point, and not in a good way. Usually, you try to improve in the offseason, but the Ducks quickly headed in the opposite direction, losing two of their top players to the transfer portal.
Today, while not as impactful a player, another Duck announced that they'd be leaving Eugene.
Dezdrick Lindsay Plans to Enter Portal
Oregon forward Dezdrick Lindsay moves the ball as the Oregon Ducks host the Washington Huskies on March 7, 2026, at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon. © Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesIt was announced today by his agent, Ethan Coury, that Oregon guard Dezdrick Lindsay would be the next Duck to enter the transfer portal.
As mentioned, Lindsay wasn't nearly as impactful as the two prior Ducks to leave in Kwame Evans Jr and Jackson Shelstad, but he was a solid role player and one of only two players to play in all 32 games last season.
The 6'6 wing averaged 5.3 PPG, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.5 APG during his lone season in Eugene. Lindsay's leaving isn't as massive a blow to the on-court product, but this is yet another alarm bell coming from Eugene.
Coming off the type of season that the Ducks just had, it may not be the worst thing in the world that they're losing all these players. It almost makes more sense to just start from scratch.
You can replenish the team through recruiting and the transfer portal themselves, but once they have their new team put together, what do they do at the head coach position?
If the players believed in Dana Altman at all, it seems like they would have given it one more year, yet they didn't. If the culture is as bad as it seems early into the offseason, it would make sense to get a fresh voice leading the team, not just fresh players.
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